Gold Star Families Recognized at Fort Leonard Wood

Fort Leonard Wood’s Survivor Outreach Services hosted its annual Gold Star family recognition event last Saturday.
Gold Star Mother’s and Family’s Day, which is officially observed on the last Sunday of September, recognizes and honors those who have lost a loved one who was actively serving in the military.
This year’s event featured something new — a fun run that began and ended at Army Community Service and drew about 50 participants — along with many of the things they have done in the past.
In the afternoon, the event moved to the USO for what’s called the Share Your Story portion of the day, where the survivors were able to set up displays of photographs, newspaper clippings, award citations and other memorabilia symbolic of their fallen loved one. The families were then able to visit with each other, and the Fort Leonard Wood community was invited to attend as well. As in year’s past, junior officers here attending the Basic Officer Leader Course and Captains Career Course volunteered to assist and act as road guards for the run and “battle buddies” at the USO.
Following Share Your Story, the event continued with music and a dinner provided by the USO. Soldiers from the 399th Army Band’s rock band helped make the event special for the survivors again this year, when they performed “a very diverse concert” of songs chosen by the attendees.