Pa. Gold Star family memorial to be dedicated Sunday

Juliet Gettings never wanted her son, Albert, to join the military. But when 9/11 happened, she knew there was no stopping him.

Then her worst fear was realized. Albert, of New Castle, Pa., was killed in an ambush in Iraq in 2006.

With her son's death, Gettings became a member of the Gold Star family, people who have lost a parent, grandparent, child, or sibling while the relative was serving in the armed forces.

"I think every Gold Star family [member] knows when their child signs up to protect their country that they have to share them with their country," Gettings said.

Pennsylvania is home to the third-largest number of Gold Star families in the country. On Sunday, many of them will gather for the unveiling of the Pennsylvania Gold Star Family Memorial, at 10:30 a.m. at the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.

It is the second Gold Star family memorial in the nation. Hershel "Woody" Williams - a Medal of Honor recipient, the founder of Gold Star Families, and a force behind the memorials - said he hopes it is only the beginning of a 50-state campaign.

The first Gold Star family memorial was erected in Williams' home state of West Virginia last October.

Wallace "Wally" Nunn, former chairman of the Delaware County Council, met Williams through Nunn's work on the national Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. At the annual convention last October, Williams told Nunn that many memorials were dedicated to military personnel who have lost their lives. But none were dedicated to the families who continued to struggle with their grief.

So Nunn, through his work on the board of directors at the Freedoms Foundation, joined with the Travis Manion Foundation and raised $60,000 to get the project started. They need about $30,000 more to complete it, although the dedication will take place.

On one side of the four-panel granite monument is the inscription, "A tribute to mothers and fathers who sacrificed a loved one for our freedom."

Nunn said that would be standard for every state monument. The other side can be customized depending on the memorial's location.

The customized side on the Pennsylvania memorial features a Civil War-era family, Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima, and a Doylestown family receiving the American flag for son Travis Manion, killed in Iraq in 2007.

An outline of a service member standing at salute has been carved out of the granite. A 100-foot-long flag stands nearby.

Terri Lampe, vice president of development at the Freedoms Foundation, said she anticipates that the memorial's unveiling will be emotional, with Gold Star family members sharing their stories of loss.

"I don't think there's going to be a dry eye in the whole audience," Lampe said.

Said Nunn: "Those they leave behind, they never end their suffering. It's time that we recognized that sacrifice."

610-313-8105

@kflynn_13