A Good Book for Gold Star Mother's Day

Today is Gold Star Mother's Day, a day to commemorate and honor all the mothers who paid the nation the highest honor of giving their sons or daughters in the service of the country. Their sacrifices have given us our freedom.

Too often we fail to give our servicemen and servicewomen the recognition they deserve. We tend to take for granted those who gave all for our country. Those who died in our country's service. But even more often, we totally forget that those brave men and women who gave their all had mothers who also gave dearly for us. They are the ones we honor on this special day that few know about.

Today, I'd like to take this opportunity to put in a word of recommendation that you read two special books by one special lady. The books are Leora's Letters and What Leora Never Knew by Joy Neal Kidney.

Leora was Joy's grandmother, and she was a Gold Star Mother--three times in the same war. Joy, Leora's oldest granddaughter, became the family's historian, the keeper of the family's legacy. She hadn't had the privilege of knowing her uncles who died, but she wanted to know them, so she began a long process of researching their stories, using numerous letters and documents that Leora had kept hidden away.

Leora's Letters tells the story of love and loss for an Iowa family during World War II. What Leora Never Knew tells of Joy's quest for answers. And she found them, things that her grandmother never knew. I've read both of them, and I highly recommend that you read them, too. You'll never look at Gold Star Mothers the same afterward because you'll experience vicariously through the books the anxiety, the worry, the heartache of not knowing, and the devastation of finally getting the dreaded news that a son, and eventually three sons, would not be returning home.

If you know another Gold Star Mother, thank her today for the sacrifice she made in giving her son or daughter in the service of our country. And read Joy Kidney's books.