FORT BENNING, Ga., (Nov. 26, 2014) -- Instead of planting flowers, the Columbus Council of Garden Clubs, Inc. planted the latest marker on Fort Benning's Walk of Honor with a Blue Star Memorial marker that overlooks Inouye Field near the National Infantry Museum.

"There isn't any more appropriate place for it than here," said National Infantry Museum president and chief operating officer Ben Williams, as he officially accepted the marker on Nov. 18 during a ceremony at the museum.

The Blue Star Memorial marker is a creation of the Garden Clubs of America as a New Jersey garden club planted 1,000 dogwood trees along a highway designated the Blue Star Drive to honor servicemen and servicewomen in 1944, said Janice Thiese, chairman of the Blue Star Memorial Marker committee of the Garden Clubs of Georgia, who gave the history of the marker.

"Since then there are 2,500 Blue Star highways nationwide," Thiese said. "Blue Star markers are a way of honoring members of our Armed Forces past, present and future."

In 2004, delegates at the National Garden Club convention broadened the scope of the markers and approved their placement in other appropriate locations, not just highways, Thiese said.

President of the Columbus Council of Garden Clubs Inc., Stacy Poydasheff said the marker's dedication took a lot of dedication and effort by not only members of the Columbus club, but the clubs in the Magnolia district and statewide.

The Blue Star Memorial marker is the latest addition to the Walk of Honor which features the markers of different military units past and present given by their various associations, said Lora Warren, director of educational services at the National Infantry Museum, who added that the first marker in the Walk of Honor belongs to the 173rd Infantry Division.

"Having a Blue Star Memorial marker here is only fitting and makes it special to me," Warren said.