Gold Star Families Honored In CeremonyA recent inscription on the Kosciusko County Courthouse War Memorial honors Gold Star Families.
Tuesday morning, after the county commissioners meeting, the Honor And Remember Committee held a ceremony for the new inscription.
A Gold Star Family is the immediate family member(s) of a fallen service member who died while serving in a time of conflict. The inscription, on the side of the memorial facing the courthouse, says, “Kosciusko County expresses eternal gratitude to Gold Star Families whose loved one paid the ultimate price defending the United States of America. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten.”
The ceremony began inside the courthouse with the recognition of Gold Star Families who were in attendance, followed by the posting of the colors by American Legion Post 49 and Veterans of Foreign Wars 1126. Emergency Management Director Ed Rock sang the national anthem.
After recognizing guests and ceremony participants, County Commissioner Bob Conley reflected on his Uncle Elbert Conley who was killed in World War II, while holding up an old picture of Elbert. The picture usually hangs in Bob Conley’s barbershop above his barber chair.
“And on a daily basis, I thank God for him, for setting the example he set and in remembrance of all of our young people who gave their lives in battle,” Conley said.
Along with the photo he received from his aunt after his grandmother died, Conley also has a letter from Gen. Douglas MacArthur, written by 1st Lt. Taylor S. Samuel, 27th Infantry, Command, explaining what happened to Elbert. Conley read part of that letter during the ceremony.
“There’s a couple things in here that really gets me and I’m sure it gets to you Gold Star Families as well. One, where they made the comment ‘I know that this great sorrow will be taken in a truly Christian spirit and with resignation to the will of God.’ I didn’t know my Uncle Elbert. He died five years before I was even born. But having his picture and having these words gives me a lot of comfort, and I thank God for that. And I know that our loved ones who have lost their life giving the ultimate sacrifice in war, we feel the same way that this writer of this letter probably felt,” Conley said.
Ken Locke, member of the Honor And Remember Committee, said, “If we could transport back to 1917 ... and we’d walk down some of the streets in Warsaw, you’d go by houses where you would see a banner in the window and it would have a blue star. That tradition started during World War I. And it wasn’t uncommon to walk then down the street and see them window after window.”
Then there were times a person could walk by a house and see a Gold Star in the window.
“And everyone knew then in the community the sacrifice that had been given from that house, from that home, from that family for the freedoms we take for granted sometimes,” Locke said.
The tradition continued during World War II.
Locke’s mother was a “Rosie the Riveter,” working 12 hours a day making parts for submarines. As she walked to work, she would watch the banners in the windows, and every once in a while, a banner would turn to Gold.
“And everyone was reminded again of the sacrifice that was given,” he said.
The tradition has continued on since then, but maybe not as prevalent as it was during those two wars, Locke said. “But we honor the Blue Star Families of every family whose loved ones serves in the armed forces. And also there are Silver Star Families, which we don’t hear much about, but I grew up in a Silver Star Family, if you had a loved one who was wounded in combat,” he said.
He recalled his experience with a Gold Star Family. His best friend, who he grew up with, was one of the last two men killed in Vietnam during the fall of Saigon.
“I had the privilege after that of spending time with his parents until they died. I saw the pain and agony that a Gold Star Family carried and how much they missed that loved one,” Locke said. “It’s a huge price that we ask people to give for the freedoms that we have.”
He said people need to have at least respect for those who have given for the freedoms we have.
“You can protest, you can do all kinds of other things, but don’t dishonor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice,” Locke said.
He said there’s always been a sense of wanting to recognize Gold Star Families.
“A few years ago, we put the words ‘Freedom Isn’t Free’ on the back of the memorial, and we wanted to add those (Gold Star) words,” Locke said, but that didn’t get done. “But all of a sudden, for some reason, this year, with everything we’ve been going through, it cropped up.”
They got working on the inscription right away. Private donations paid for the etching.
Representatives of the American Legion and VFW then presented the Honor And Remember flag while Conley explained what everything on it represented. Everyone then proceeded outside to the war memorial for a 21-gun salute and the playing of Taps by the Post and VFW, with a closing prayer by Veterans Affairs Officer Rich Maron.
