OCHLOCKNEE — With Veterans Day this week, a tribute to the mothers and families who have lost loved ones in service was brought back to life Saturday.

The Gold Star Mothers Memorial was re-unveiled at the Popes Store Museum, completing the efforts of the Popes Store Museum board, Joe and Michelle Dean, Tim Moore and Thomas University art professor Rich Curtis. 

“I’m so thankful,” Michelle Dean said.

Former VFW state commander Jeff Carroll called the setting “a beautiful grounds and a beautiful remembrance.”

“Today we want to pause and remember the families who waited and sacrificed, that wait and sacrifice,” he said. “And that is at the heart of this Gold Star Mothers and Families reflecting pond we are blessed with out here. There is a peacefulness out there, there’s a calm.”

During World War I, families hung flags with blue stars in their windows. The number of blue stars represented the number of sons in service overseas.

If those sons were killed in action, the blue stars became gold stars. 

“To be a member of a Gold Star family is to be thrust into an imposing and distinguished position that absolutely no one ever wants to hold,” Carroll said. “And yet, some are called. When that happens, words are so far from adequate. 

“This heartfelt tribute that has now been refreshed and reinvigorated by locals was made to honor those who gave everything by remembering and honoring the sacrifices of their families.” 

Museum chairman Todd Butler recounted his own service in the U.S. Navy. He was a young sailor aboard the destroyer USS John King on exercises off Puerto Rico. Nearby, the battleship USS Iowa was taking part in gunnery drills, its mammoth guns lighting up the night sky and the water as they fired. 

On the morning of April 19, 1989, general quarters was sounded aboard the USS John King. Butler, having pulled the previous watch, had not been in bed long when the alarm sounded. 

“We knew there were casualties,” he said. “We knew it was bad. We didn’t know how bad. All we could do was stand ready to render aid. There’s not much you can do to help a ship that is burning at sea.” 

The sailors on the destroyer were notified there was an explosion and fire on the Iowa in its No. 2 turret, which held three of its main guns.

“Forty-seven mothers got their Gold Stars that day,” Butler said. “It came home to me that my adventure was not a game.” 

In her benediction, Elder Annette Higdon of Fresh Start Global Outreach Ministries asked for help and guidance for today’s men and women in uniform and the families they often leave behind.

“God we ask you protect each and every one of our young men and women still serving today to give us freedom,” she said. “Father we ask you give strength and peace to those who remain behind as they stand beside each other.” 

Carroll said those service members who have died in conflicts still matter today.

“We thank God for blessing us with heroes who gave everything in service to this country,” he said. “Sacrifice is what military families have done and continue to do. We must continue to come together as communities, as fraternal groups, to support each other, and to honor and to remember. 

“We need this. We need to remember,” Carroll continued. “We will remember. And there is hope.”