Community dedicates Blue/Gold Star Hwy Marker

SNEADS FERRY, N.C. (WITN) - One community is paying tribute to our service members from the past, and present, and those who have died in the line of duty.

The Sneads Ferry Garden Club of New River raised over $6,000 for Blue and Gold Star Memorial Markers, with $10,000 raised in total.

The markers are in a plot outside the Sneads Ferry Library on Highway 210.

The Blue Star Marker represents a family member currently serving in the Armed Forces.

The Memorial includes both the Blue Star and Gold Star markers, a lit flagpole, and a specially designed star created by a local landscaper.

The Gold Star Memorial Markers recognize the families of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Members of the Gold Star Mothers organization say they live daily with the pain and sacrifice of their fallen heroes.

“To see it here in front of everybody; that means everything. We don’t want to talk about how our loved one died, we want to talk about how they lived,” said member of the Azalea Chapter of the Gold Star Mothers organization, Deb Yashinski.

“I am so proud that I get to be part of it. It makes me proud that I was able to serve in the Air Force all these years. I’m glad it’s here at the library so that when families come or people take walks along here, they’ll stop and they’ll look and they’ll remember,” added Air Force veteran, Polly Rosenberg.

The Sneads Ferry Garden Club says the Memorial is the first in the area with both Blue Star and Gold Star markers.

Copyright 2023 WITN. All rights reserved.