HR 4197 IHCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

To authorize the Gold Star Mothers National Monument Foundation to establish a national monument in the District of Columbia.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

December 3, 2009CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Mr. ADLER of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. HALL of New York, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, and Ms. KOSMAS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural ResourcesCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

To authorize the Gold Star Mothers National Monument Foundation to establish a national monument in the District of Columbia.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘Gold Star Mothers National Monument Act of 2009’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds as follows:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) During World War I, mothers of sons and daughters who served in the Armed Forces displayed flags bearing a blue star to represent their pride in their sons and daughters and their hope that their sons and daughters would return home safely.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) For more than 60,000 of these mothers, that hope was shattered, and many of them, both during and after World War I, began displaying flags bearing a gold star to represent the sacrifice that their sons and daughters made for freedom and this country.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(3) Over the years, the gold star has come to represent a child who was killed while serving in the Armed Forces, whether that service was during wartime or not.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(4) In 1929, Congress passed a law authorizing the Federal Government to disburse funds for Gold Star Mothers, and widows of those who were killed while serving in the Armed Forces during World War I, to travel to the battlefields of Europe to visit the burial sites of their loved ones.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(5) On June 23, 1936, Congress passed Senate Joint Resolution 115 (74th Congress), which established the last Sunday in September as Gold Star Mother’s Day.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(6) Gold Star Mothers, a most deserving group, should be honored to commemorate the sacrifices that they, and their sons and daughters, made for this country.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 3. GOLD STAR MOTHERS NATIONAL MONUMENT.

(a) Establishment- The Gold Star Mothers National Monument Foundation (a nonprofit corporation established under the laws of the District of Columbia) is authorized to establish a monument on Federal land in the District of Columbia or its environs, as a unit of the National Park System. The monument shall be known as the ‘Gold Star Mothers National Monument’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(b) Compliance With Standards for Commemorative Works- The establishment of the monument shall be carried out in accordance with the Commemorative Works Act (40 U.S.C. 8901 et seq.).CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(c) Payment of Expenses- The Gold Star Mothers National Monument Foundation shall be solely responsible for acceptance of contributions for, and payment of the expenses of, the establishment of the monument, and no Federal funds may be used to pay such expenses.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink