GOLD STAR MOTHER AND FAMILY DAY SEP. 29

Tomorrow, Sunday, Sept. 29, is Gold Star Mother and Family Day. The Gold Star Mothers organization was formed in 1928 by Grace Darling Seibold after her son, a US soldier assigned to the British Royal Flying Corps in WWI, was declared deceased while in combat. Seibold founded Gold Star Mothers to help other grieving mothers and to provide comfort to hospitalized veterans. “Gold star” is a reference to the stars on service flags hung in families’ windows during WWI, and still authorized today. A blue star on a service flag indicates a family member in active military service; a gold star indicates a family member has died while serving. In 1936, Congress passed a resolution designating the last Sunday in September as “Gold Star Mother and Family Day,” revering mothers, fathers and family members, as “the greatest source of the Country’s strength and inspiration.” The gilt symbol of Gold Star Mother and Family Day is bright for a reason. It is meant to shine so the public sees “the honor and glory accorded the person for supreme sacrifice in offering for his or her country, the last full measure of devotion and pride of the family in this sacrifice, rather than the sense of personal loss.”