Gold Star Mothers Day
September 30, 2007
 

Peter Allegretta and the Putnam County Joint Veterans Council dedicate a memorial statue to all Gold Star Mothers.

MY ADOPTED GOLD STAR MOM
LINDA DRIZA
PHILADELPHIA,PA.
"MISS YOU MOM"

Linda's Family-Please contact Doc

Linda Driza
Gone but not Forgotten
November 2001
I will miss her Dearly!

Doc & Linda
11/11/1997
WE MET IN WASH.D.C. AT OPERATION LZ/DC
15TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WALL!
HER SON & I WERE BOTH MEDICS IN NAM
"SHE WAS A WONDERFUL/FUN/ENERGETIC/FULL OF LOVE"MOM


STAN DRIZA
MEDIC WITH THE 2/27TH WOLFHOUNDS
CuChi,Vietnam
KIA DECEMBER 22,1967
Doc met Stan for a brief moment in '67'


CLICK ON LOGO ABOVE

Doc,
I have attached a poem you might wish to add to your web page.
I lost my son, combat medic Keith Allen Campbell, DSC, BSM, PH 8 Feb 1967 in Vietnam.
I will always miss him.  Esther  B.Campbell Gates, San Antonio, TX

OLD GOLD STAR BRIDGE HELD MANY MEMORIES

The local chapter of the Gold Star Mothers formed in the early 1930s.
The photo above is believed to have been taken in the 1930s or early 1940s.
The members are (L-R/seated): Mrs. John Sherman, Mrs. Godfrey Kah and Mrs. Julia Heiland; (standing)
Mrs. Anna Nettleship, Mrs. D.W. (Minnie) Williams, Mrs. Walter Pence, Mrs. Richard Hayner, and
Mrs. H.A. (Buelah) Fogt.
A few motorists heading south of Sidney on County Road 25 A take the suggested detour across the Great Miami River past the
jail, but most elect to continue southward and go up Sulphur Heights Hill, bypassing the rapidly concluding construction project
that will result in a new bridge over the river. To most the site is but another construction nuisance
to be left in the rearview mirror, amid a cloud of dust.
Few realize that the ceremony marking the opening of the original bridge in 1933 caused over 5,000 people to march from downtown
Sidney there to pay tribute to a group that always pays the ultimate sacrifice in wartime, but is now largely forgotten: the Gold Star
Mothers. Many will remember this Veterans' Day on November 11 at the bridge, when the new structure is rededicated, and the
surviving Gold Star Mothers recognized. This is the story of the Mothers and how the bridge came to bear their name.

When the battlefield sounds of The World War (as World War I was then known) faded away, numerous veterans groups such as
the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars were organized to commemorate the memory of those who had
died in the great conflict. Formed of those who survived, these groups honored their comrades in arms routinely on such occasions as
Memorial Day and Armistice Day. The healing process for them had begun. For another group, the broken hearts would never heal.
 

Gold Star Mom
The banner was small,but the star was large,
The color of a blue, night sky.
She hung it in the window with trembling fingers
And tried hard not to cry.
He was so young to go far away
As all soldiers have to do. She knew that danger
Lurked everywhere,
As she touched the star of blue.
The weeks went by, the months rolled on
She knew he would not die.
Her faith in God held her head up high.
In her heart she sang a song.
But the battles raged. The news was not good
Why did so many have to die?  She was cold,
And she felt terribly old
As the day came that she faced with dread.
When a knock on the door
Shattered her life evermore,
And the blue star turned to gold.

Esther B. Campbell Gates

CLICK ON LOGO ABOVE

The International Society of Poets, has awarded their OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN POETRY
award to Board Member Esther Gates, for this poem.  This work will be published by the Gold Star Mothers of America
in their next publication.  It has also been published on the “Poetry of Arlington Cemetery.com” web page.
 

Andrew Chernak creation
GOLD STAR MOTHERS STATUE

Is it true that Hillary Clinton refused to meet with a group of American Gold Star Mothers?
No. This story passed through several people before being reported by NewsMax on May 26, 2001 and the details were lost.
The two mothers who visited Washington did not have an appointment with the Senator and she was not in her office on that day.
The NewsMax article did not get the story correct and we deeply regret the misunderstanding about
Senator Hillary Clinton. Senator Clinton greeted us gratiously on Gold Star Mothers Sunday, 2005.

CLICK ON LOGO ABOVE

THE NEWS....

It's Monday, I am doing laundy thinking of you my dear son
I hear a car pull up and I go to the door to see
I see the two men in uniform
My heart begins to race
Thoughts of no, no, no, go away, please go away
Oh God, let it not be my son
He is so young, no I am not done loving him

I open the door and they say we are sorry...
NO  NO  NO  I scream
They continue, the President of the United States
regrets to inform you of the death of your son

The rest of their words falls on deaf ears
I feel my heart breaking so badly
I fall to the floor saying...
my son is no more....

Kerry "Doc" Pardue
 
 

Gold Star family members ride in Milwaukee,Wi. 2005 Vets Day Parade
 
 

The Staten Island Ferry
had a boat in the 1937 series named Gold Star Mother,
in honor of the nations GSM's.Here are two photos from
The Staten Island Ferry by George W. Hilton, published in 1964.

Thanks Joseph D.Korman for allowing me to put the story & photos
on this Gold Star Moms site..

In South Ferry Slip next to the President Roosevelt (Teddy)

Copyright © 1998 Joseph D. Korman

Passenger Loading Good view of the pilot house and name.

Copyright © 1998 Joseph D. Korman

 AMERICAN GOLD STAR MOTHERS INC.

 GOLD STAR MOMS

 Gold Star Mothers: Helping Others Help Themselves

By Rudi Williams
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2000 -- "I think before we send young
men and women anywhere to fight, we'd better be ready to
take care of them when they come home," Mary Wheeler said.
"I don't mean just token appreciation. I mean take care of them."

With tear-glazed eyes, Wheeler said sadly that she
sometimes sits and wonders where America would be today if
young men and women had refused to fight "when we were
first starting our country."

"Where would we be? What would we be doing?" asked Wheeler,
president of American Gold Star Mothers Inc. She still
grieves over the loss of her son in Vietnam more than 32
years ago. She's devoted the past 31 years of her life
thanking veterans and service members for their sacrifices
-- and invoking other Americans to do the same.

Members of Wheeler's group are mothers whose son or
daughter died on active duty. Gold Star Mothers got their
name from a practice that began during World War I of
families hanging flags emblazoned with a dark blue star for
each living member in the service and a gold one for each
who had died. Mothers whose children are listed as missing
can also join the organization.
"By helping others, I helped myself," she said. "All
veterans are my boys and girls. It's what we imagine our
son or daughter might be doing, or what their life would be
like if they were here now. The main thrust of our
organization is to help our veterans and mothers whose sons
or daughters didn't come home.

"There are not many members in our home chapter here in
Washington and they're all getting old," Wheeler said. "We
have members across the country who are 100 years old and
several in their 90s." She estimated the group has about
2,000 members nationwide.

 HISTORY OF GOLD STAR MOTHERS' PILGRIMAGES

The Gold Star Mothers have 28 "departments" nationwide.
States with large memberships, such as New York, are
separate departments. Others with fewer members have
combined; California, Hawaii, Arizona and Nevada are one
department, for instance, and Georgia and South Carolina form another.

Gold Star Mothers, she said, let veterans know that
somebody cares. The mothers visit patients in Veterans
Affairs hospitals and ensure they receive gifts on holidays and special occasions.

"We give them a hug to let them know somebody cares,"
Wheeler said. She is living at the Washington headquarters
chapter home this year to help Jean K. Penfold, the
national service officer, who is ill.

"I did get involved, mostly because I don't want anyone to
forget what freedom cost us," she said. "We walk these
streets, go to the store, go to the movies -- we do all of
this because someone has bought that for us, and it's a
price none of us can repay.

"We need to realize what our responsibilities are. We say
'freedom,' but freedom carries with it a great
responsibility -- to see that we never forget our past. If
we forget our past, we're going to make the same mistakes
all over again. I don't think any of us want to do that."

SONG BEING PLAYED IS WRITTEN BY RON HEALY
SUNG BY: DAVE HUMMEL
OUR GOLD STAR MOMS

Doc's

VISIT DOC'S SITES BELOW