Mothers are escorted to the statue

TOWN OF KENT—Putnam County’s Gold Star Mothers statue will be serving as a national prototype.

The past president of the American Gold Star Mothers Committee Judith Young traveled to Putnam Sunday along with 100 members of the New Jersey based Rolling Thunder to honor those women who lost sons and daughters during times of war while serving in the military.

Karl Rohde of Lake Carmel, chairman of the Putnam Joint Veterans Council, stood on the sidelines at the Putnam Veterans Memorial Park in Kent as a moving service was held in front of the statue for eight Gold Star moms including several from Dutchess County as well as Hazel Martinez of Putnam Lake.

Rohde, a former New York State Veterans of Foreign Wars Commander, was touched. “This is overwhelming. Imagine the Putnam County Gold Star Mothers statue will be used as a model for every state in our great nation as well as in Washington, D.C. I am filled with pride and emotion. This was a labor of love for the Putnam Gold Star Mothers’ Committee,” he said. “It took us seven long years but I will never forget the opening ceremony in 2006. Today we reap the benefits of our hard work.”

Sunday’s ceremony was coordinated by Brenda Einhorn of Forked River, New Jersey who led the pack of cyclists for the second consecutive year from the Garden State.

Einhorn has begun a fund raising campaign both in New Jersey as well as nationwide to collect dollars for Gold Star Mothers statues to be erected in her home state as well as in our nation’s capital. “You people in Putnam County are leading the way. We want every American to know what a Gold Star Mother is and the sacrifices they have made. Putnam County is a hero in this regard,” she said.

Martinez looked at the magnificent life-sized bronze statue consisting of a woman holding a crumpled telegram in her hand advising that her child had been killed in battle.

“The loss of a child is something a parent should never experience. The pain and anguish is always with you. It’s wonderful that our veterans’ council created America’s first statue. Now every state in the nation must follow,” she told the Putnam County Courier.