Sep 28, 2008 5:56 pm US/Central
Families Find Comfort In Gold Star Mother's Day
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
It's a tradition that dates back to the end of World War One.
Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn marked "Gold Star Mother's Day" in Chicago Sunday, honoring those whose sons and daughters gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country, as CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports.
"I know that it's Gold Star Mother's Day, but in all reality, we are Gold Star families. Because our whole familes will live with the loss of our son," said mother Cheryl Price.
She wears her son's dog tags and his image on her shirt – 19-year-old Lance Corporal Jonathan Price. He was killed in Ramadi, Iraq in January 2006.
His mother says joining families at Gold Star's Mother's Day helps her find comfort.
"It's a lifelong hole that's left in our family," she said. "I think it's wonderful that the state of Illinois does this to honor these men and women."
Quinn presented Gold Star Banners to the mothers of 23 military members who gave their lives serving their country. But the event also honored 63 other Gold Star families who've lost loved ones since 9/11 – people like Levie Gifford.
Her hero is her father John Gifford.
"I'm proud of my daddy," she said.
Gifford's mother, Vicky Langley, says Gold Star Families Program is there to help whenever families need it.
"They let us know day in and day out that our sons haven't been forgotten and things like this helps us,' she said." We all get together, we all talk."
It's a feeling shared by a Gold Star dad who says the pain he feels after losing his son, Corporal Kevin Clarke in 2005, is unlike any other. He said he yearns for a day when world peace would mean an end to the kind of honor he says no parent would choose to receive.
"That would be something to celebrate when we don't have to come down there for this," he said.
President Franklin Roosevelt declared the first Gold Mothers Day to be the last Sunday in September.
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