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ssgtt32
10-01-07, 05:31 PM
May We Never Forget, the one person who loves us unconditionally, she may not understand, but she accepts it!

Maurice

Mothers honored for their sacrifice
Gold Star Mothers ceremony helps bring solace to those who lost children serving in the military

By CYNTHIA LEONOR GARZA
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Just two days after laying her son to rest, Anna Valentine returned to the Houston National Cemetery to join other women who have an intimate understanding of her grief.

Clutching bouquets of yellow roses bound together by yellow ribbon, many of the women — whose sons or daughters died while serving in the military — held each other and wept Sunday as taps was played at the end of a ceremony honoring Gold Star Mothers.

Nearly two dozen women were honored for their sacrifice.

"I think every mother goes through a different process (of healing), but I wanted to come here and witness this," said Valentine, whose son, Cpl. Donald E. Valentine III, was buried Friday at the north Harris County cemetery.

The 21-year-old soldier was among three who died Sept. 18 in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, when an improvised bomb exploded near their unit. Valentine said she took solace in seeing how the other mothers, some who lost their children several years ago, remembered them through the stories they shared.

"The mothers are a special breed," said Jorge Lopez, director of the cemetery. "You have also paid a special price for our freedom."

The ceremony, typically held on the last Sunday of September, was started by the American Gold Star Mothers Inc.

The group — founded by a woman whose son, an aviator, was killed in World War I — was named for the gold star that families hung in their windows in honor of service members who had died in war.

Numerous congressional, state and local officials attended Sunday's ceremony and spoke to the mothers about their children's, and their own, courage and sacrifice.

The majority of the mothers in attendance lost children in recent years in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"When they have lost a loved one, they feel so alone," said Mary Lucario, who helped organize the event and whose son is a U.S. Marine Corps recruiter.

Lucario said there are plans to start a Houston-area chapter of Gold Star Mothers. A group met this summer and will elect officers soon, she said.

Also addressing the gathering was Donna Hilsher, of Blue Star Mothers of America Inc., an organization of women with children who are serving, or have served, in the military.

"We Blue Star mothers may not know the feelings that you carry in your heart," she said, describing those feelings as unfathomable grief associated with the loss of a child.

But, Hilsher said, Blue Star mothers do know how it feels to have to say goodbye to their children, endure sleepless nights and deal with "the helplessness of being so far away."

They also know the pride these mothers have in their children, she said. Yet, it's a pride tinged with unending grief.

"It's just so unnatural to bury a child," said Theresa Kitowski, whose only child, Army Sgt. Charles Kitowski III, died Aug. 12 in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan as the result of a bomb explosion.

Kitowski said the ceremony was her first encounter with other military mothers who had lost children.

"Right now, it's too hard," she said of her own experience. "But it's a comfort, knowing they're there."

cynthia.garza@chron.com

thedrifter
10-01-07, 07:35 PM
Never Forgotten

Ellie

semperfi170
10-01-07, 09:23 PM
The support and love I received from my Mom during my time in Nam and when I made the decision to join was outstanding! Mothers' of Marines are special, as are all the those mothers whose sons and daughters serve(d) in the Armed Forces of the United States.:iwo: