REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – Many Americans celebrate Memorial Day with cookouts among family and friends to usher in the beginning of summer, but for some families it is a solemn day to remember a loved one who paid the ultimate price for freedom.
On the Friday before Memorial Day, the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command hosted a special Gold Star Service Flag raising ceremony for some of the Tennessee Valley’s Gold Star Families to honor them and their loved ones at the command’s Redstone Arsenal headquarters.
“The Gold Star Service Flag is a humbling reminder of the cost of freedom, and we are committed to remembering our fallen warriors for their greatness,” said Capt. Hena Jenkins, financial management analyst, USASMDC, and the master of ceremonies. “We commend their families who are left behind for demonstrating such courage and strength through hardship and loss.”
The blue and gold star banner tradition began during World War I when families would hang a banner with a blue star for each family member who was serving. When someone died in service, a gold star was stitched over the blue star.
Col. Todd Book, chief of staff, USAMSDC, said there are an estimated 6,000 Gold Star Families in Alabama and the flag allows members of the community to know the price the family paid in the cause of freedom.
“It represents their families, their resilience, and legacy through sorrows we can’t even imagine,” Book said. “It represents all those impacted, their lost friendships, lost coworkers, and missed moments. It represents a grateful nation, their neighbors, communities and the country that they loved will live in the shadow of their life and their legacy.”
Book said Memorial Day should be a time of somber reflection for all who enjoy the hard won freedoms secured by America’s fallen heroes.
“Thank you, Gold Star Families, for bearing the Gold Star with grace. No one can say they understand the sacrifice as much as you do,” Book said. “Thank you for being here to remind us to cherish every moment and to honor those lost. You’re always part of the Army family. Your resilience inspires us and your family member’s sacrifice will never be forgotten.”
Cheryl Sheffield, a Gold Star Mother from Moulton, and her daughter Erica Dillow, attended the ceremony to honor Sheffield’s son, Spc. Jeffery Kyle Davis.
“I haven’t stepped foot on a military base in 11 years because it felt like I couldn’t, and today it took strength for me to come here,” Sheffield said. “He loved the military. This was such a great way for me to honor him in a way that he would like.”
Davis, who joined the Army at 17, attended Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Benning, now called Fort Moore, Georgia, in October 2010, and graduated from the U.S. Army Infantry School in February 2011 and from the U.S. Army Airborne School in March 2011.
He was assigned to the 173rd Airborne Infantry Battalion in Vicenza, Italy, in April 2011, and served with his unit honorably during Operation Enduring Freedom in the Wardak Province, Chak District of Afghanistan from July 2012 until March 2013.
He was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge and the Army Commendation Medal for his courageous service. He died in 2013 at 20 years old, five weeks after returning from his deployment.
“He absolutely loved serving his country. It was everything,” Sheffield said.
On Memorial Day, Dillow, Sheffield’s youngest daughter who is 17 and completing her junior year of high school, will leave for Basic Training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. She has joined the National Guard and plans to go into financial management.
“She’ll have to go to Airborne School as well,” Sheffield said. “I think he would be so proud of her.”
Also on Memorial Day, Sheffield and her other daughters, Amber Davis and Tory Davis, will visit her son’s grave in Mississippi and eat at one of the family’s favorite restaurants, as is their tradition. She said she will bring him an American flag, purple and gold flowers because he liked Louisiana State University, and will sit and talk to him for a while.
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