I had never heard of “Gold Star Mother’s Day” until my friend Phil mentioned it the other day, but it’s a special day to honor mothers who have lost children in combat. In fact, Bush issued this year’s proclamation last week to honor these mothers.
Americans have always answered the call to serve our Nation. Many brave American men and women have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend freedom’s blessings, and no one feels their loss more deeply than their mothers. On Gold Star Mother’s Day, we remember these mothers who have suffered the loss of a son or daughter through service to our country. We honor their courage and perseverance and the memory of their children.
Across our Nation, these compassionate and generous women are volunteering to serve veterans, helping families of service members, supporting educational programs that promote patriotism and citizenship, and turning their grief into action. They inspire all Americans with their compassion and service. On this day, people across America join together to honor our Gold Star mothers and send our gratitude, prayers, and best wishes to them and to their families.
Of course, those “best wishes” apparently don’t include Sue Niederer, whose 24-year-old son, Army Lt. Seth Dvorin, was killed in Iraq in February, and who believes the president “deceived and manipulated the American people.”
During [Laura] Bush’s salute to the men and women in Iraq, Sue Sapir Niederer, of Hopewell, N.J., was pulled outside the firehouse after she staged a war protest…. As shouts of “Four More Years” subsided, Sapir Niederer, standing in the middle of the crowd of about 700, continued to shout about the killing of her son. Secret Service and local police escorted her out of the event, handcuffed her and placed her in the back of a police van.
“Excuse me, what are you charging me with,” Niederer repeated to officers as they arrested her.
Niederer was charged with defiant trespassing, even though she had a ticket to the rally.
Niederer’s “courage and perseverance,” as Bush’s proclamation put it, resulted in her getting arrested. I don’t imagine a Gold Star will help her feel any better.