Gold Star Families Honored

The White House Commission on Remembrance hosted its fourth annual salute to Gold Star families-those who have lost a member to war-on the west lawn of the Capitol Saturday.About 2,000 families whose members died in Iraq and Afghanistan were honored.Attending were Admiral Michael Mullen,Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,and General George W. Casey,Jr.,Army Chief of Staff and himself a Gold Star family member,his father having been killed in the Vietnam war.Each motherless or fatherless child received a gold medallion on a ribbon lanyard.Many of them were under 10 years old.The Armed Forces Color Guard paraded the 50 state flags,and Admiral Mullen,a frequent visitor to graves at Arlington National Cemetery,shook hands and spoke with the Gold Star sons and daughters.They have become so special to their nation in these historic times.