Fox News celebrates the holidays with All-American Christmas tree lighting
'The Five' co-hosts share some highlights from Fox News' All-American Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Fox Square.
A man who has great respect for our military veterans has been working for 20 years to complete a Christmas tree that's decorated entirely in honor of America's heroes.
The commemorative tree has been a labor of love and is a sign of respect for veterans, whom Denver Peardon, a resident of Rydal, Georgia, has dedicated much of his life to honoring.
The tree, Peardon told Fox News Digital, "started at 16 inches tall and is now an 8-foot tree."
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To date, it contains 184 photos of veterans — and Peardon has met each of those individuals personally and spent time with them.
Peardon is a book author. Together with his son Caleb and his friend Rick Royal, he runs a mobile military museum called The Military History Preservation Group.
Denver Peardon's 2022 Christmas tree contains photos of 184 military veterans all throughout its branches. (Denver Peardon)
Peardon, Caleb and Royal set up the mobile museum outside nursing homes and assisted living homes on holidays such as Veterans Day and Memorial Day.
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They do so to honor America's vets — and it's where Peardon has met the veterans whose faces now decorate his Christmas tree.
Denver Peardon (right) and Rick Royal (left) in Milton, Georgia, at the Old Milton County Fair. (Denver Peardon)
When he takes a step back to look at the tree filled with the veterans' photos, Peardon said he's hit with a flood of feelings.
"It's every emotion from sadness to joy. I knew some of them for 18 years before I lost them," he said.
Denver Peardon (left) pictured with Floyd Land, who was a prisoner of war during WWII for a year and seven days. The photo was taken around 2004 at the Cameron Hall assisted living home in Canton, Georgia. (Denver Peardon)
His son Caleb, Peardon told Fox News Digital, grew up thinking of many of these men as members of his own family.
Caleb Peardon (right) and a veteran are photographed at the 2019 Freedom Walk in Jasper, Georgia. (Denver Peardon)
"When he [Caleb] was about 11, he told me, 'It's hard to lose a grandpa every month,'" Peardon said of his son.
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In addition to the photos on the tree, Peardon encircles the base of the tree with nutcrackers representing the branches of the military.
Nutcrackers representing branches of the military surround the base of Peardon's tree. Peardon does all of this because he said he came to admire members of the military while he was growing up — a period of time when he "had a hard childhood." (Denver Peardon)
"They're the guardian angels," he said.
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Peardon said he came to admire the military when he was growing up and "had a hard childhood."
Local veterans, he said, "took me under their wing."
"What they went through and were so humble — [it] made me realize you can come through anything bad with a humble heart."
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All the funds raised at events honoring the veterans go to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and the Wounded Warrior Project, Peardon told Fox News Digital.
"We never keep a penny," he said.
Denver Peardon is the author of a book about veterans, "Voices From the Past," published in 2014. He wrote in his book, "It's so important to get these stories out there and bring our history back." (Denver Peardon)
Peardon loves to share his tree with others and said people are often overcome with emotion at the sight.
"Some are extremely thankful," he said.
Denver Peardon (right) with Ricky Royal, plus Denver Peardon's veteran Christmas tree for 2022. (Denver Peardon)
"Some just sit and cry. The magnitude of the tree speaks for itself," Peardon added.
Peardon says in his book, "Voices from the Past," "Growing up in a small town in Georgia, I got to know a lot of veterans [who] served in war. I am older now and realize that the stories of their sacrifices need to be preserved for generations to come."
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He added that he feels "it's so important to get these stories out there and bring our history back … not someone's opinion, but the stories from those who were there and the ones here [who] had to sacrifice so much to give us the freedoms that we have today."
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