This year, Gold Star Mothers’ Day occurred on 24 September, almost one year after a very significant event that lingers in my memory—the dedication ceremony of the Gold Star Mothers Families Monument in Veterans Park in Lynnwood on 2 November 2022—exactly one year ago today. At the end of the ceremony, Laurence Stusser and I sounded “Echo Taps” for the local Gold Star Mothers who attended, along with a crowd of about 300.

Woody Williams formed a foundation to establish Gold Star Mothers Families Monuments in as many communities as possible in all U.S. 50 states and territories. There are now at least 131 Gold Star Families Memorial Monuments across the United States, and an additional 65 underway for installation. Three are located in Washington state in Walla Walla, Forks, and Lynnwood.

For more information about the following:

• American Gold Star Mothers and the Washington State Chapter, please see https://www.goldstarmoms.com/.
• Andrew L. Chernak, designer of the monument, please see http://gsmmonument.org/.
• Woody Williams and the Woody Williams Foundation, please see https://www.woodywilliams.org/.

For excellent articles with photos about the ceremony in Lynnwood Today, please go to:

• Lynnwood Today, Gold Star Families Memorial Monument unveiled in Lynnwood – Lynnwood Today.
• Lynnwood Times, https://lynnwoodtimes.com/2022/11/02/lynnwood-gold-star-memorial-221102/.