[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12277]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             SHINING STARS

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 25, 2012

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, last month I had the honor and the 
privilege to be among our community's proudest at the Kingwood Fallen 
Heroes Memorial Golf Tournament. Folks teed off to honor three of our 
local fallen heroes from the Kingwood community: Sergeant William 
Meeuwsen, Lance Corporal Luke Yepsen and Sergeant Brandon Bury. The 
money raised at the tournament goes back to veterans through the local 
Houston Area Chapter of the Blue Star Moms as well as several other 
military related organizations. This was the first year friends and 
family organized a golf tournament and they were able to raise $80,000; 
donating $30,000 to our local Blue Star moms. What a way to give back 
to those who have sacrificed so much--including the Blue Star mom.
  The Blue Star Mothers Organization began as a Veteran Service 
Organization to provide care packages to military serving overseas and 
offer assistance to their families here at home. In 1960, the United 
States Congress chartered the Blue Star Mothers of America as a 
Veterans Service Organization and they have dutifully kept this 
organization going strong by supporting families awaiting their child's 
safe return or consoling those whose sons or daughters who gave their 
lives for our freedom.
  All mothers have that special sparkle about them when they talk about 
their children, but there is something different in the twinkle when 
you talk to a mother whose child has gone off to war. One of the 
toughest parts of being your Congressman is to talk to moms and dads 
that have lost a child in action. It is a grief I cannot fully relate 
to and one we all pray we never know. But their courage and their 
understanding of their child's sacrifice is powerful and inspiring. 
Every Blue Star mother knows that in a split second their lives can 
change forever and their Blue Star banner can turn to Gold.
  During World War I, if a son had gone off to war in the War to End 
All Wars, as it was called, a banner was hung in front of the home in 
the window for each son in the military. This banner had a blue star in 
the center of it. If the son was killed, a gold star was superimposed 
over the blue one.
  This concept was created by Grace Seibold on Christmas Eve 1918 upon 
learning that her aviator son was killed in aerial combat in France. 
Ms. Seibold directed her grief and sorrow to helping the wounded in 
local D.C. hospitals and formed the Gold Star Mothers to give support 
for other such moms.
  During World War II, my Grandmother Poe hung such a banner with a 
blue star in the front window of her home in the country. My dad went 
off to war when he was just 18. When my grandmother died, it was one of 
the few items she had saved. That banner never had to have a gold star 
placed on it because my dad returned safely. These banners have been 
carried throughout all of America's wars since World War I.
  As a father of four, I can think of nothing worse than to lose one of 
my children. No parent wants their son or daughter killed in unknown 
foreign lands. No parent wants their child to predecease them and no 
parent wants their child to die in their youth. But it happens, and the 
grief can only be understood by other such parents.
  Mothers are special, particularly the mothers of those who wear the 
American uniform. It seems to me the strongest bond in all of creation 
is the bond between a mother and her child. The good Lord made it that 
way on purpose, and when that bond is broken by the loss of a child, 
that wound just never heals.
  One out of every ten people in the military is from the State of 
Texas. Roughly 10 percent of the total killed in Iraq and Afghanistan 
has been Texans. Yet sons and daughters throughout America, and 
especially Texas, continue to join our military knowing that they will 
no doubt go into the desert of the sun and the valley of the gun, and 
they leave behind their parents, their mothers.
  So as we show honor and respect to America's children who serve, let 
us show American compassion and ultimate gratitude for the mothers of 
those troops who display the Blue and Gold Star sacrifice from their 
windows. And the next time we pass a house with one of these stars 
maybe we should stop and say a prayer and say ``thank you'' because of 
that special mother who gave that child for the rest of us.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________