{"id":15780,"date":"2018-02-07T10:54:56","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T17:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/?p=15780"},"modified":"2018-02-07T12:09:17","modified_gmt":"2018-02-07T19:09:17","slug":"blue-star-memorial-dedication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/blue-star-memorial-dedication\/","title":{"rendered":"BLUE STAR MEMORIAL DEDICATION"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/a>

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On a bright South Florida December morning, the National Garden Club unveiled a new Blue Star Memorial marker during a ceremony at Fuchs Park in South Miami.\u00a0 The marker is on a grassy area right outside the park, 6446 SW 81st St., which runs alongside U.S. 1.<\/p>\n

Veterans, their family members and friends gathered on Tuesday, December 5, 2017, and dedicaed the landmark sign along U.S. 1 that pays tribute to veterans. Although there are 3,000 such markers dotting roads across the country, it\u2019s easy to drive past without knowing the significance.\u00a0 Andrea Little, the chair of Blue Star Memorial, noted \u201cFor us, the Blue Star Memorial marker is like the cross at each grave in Arlington National Cemetery\u201d\u00a0 Raised in a military family, Little, says the five points on the blue star symbolize war, peace, honesty, prosperity and honor. This specific marker reads \u201cA tribute to the Armed Forces who have defended the United\u00a0States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blue Star Memorial Highways are highways in the United States that honor all men and women that serve in the United States Armed Services.\u00a0 The program began with the planting of 8,000 Dogwood trees by the New Jersey Council of Garden Clubs in 1944 as a living memorial to veterans of World War II.\u00a0 And since 1945, the National Garden Clubs, adopted this program and began a Blue Star Highway system that covers thousands of miles across the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii. A large metal Blue Star Memorial Highway Marker was placed at appropriate locations along the way.<\/p>\n

The keynote speaker was Col. Michael Farrell, (pictured top right) Chief of Staff and second in command of the Marine Corps Forces, U.S. Southern Command. \u00a0 In his remarks he noted Calvin Coolidge\u2019s admonition: \u201cThe nation which forgets its defenders\u00a0will be itself forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the event, Director of the Miami Military Museum & Memorial, Anthony D. Atwood, noted: \u201cThe Blue Star Memorial unveiling was deeply moving.\u00a0 The patriotic ladies of the Florida and National Garden Clubs are truly Unsung Heroes.\u00a0 They beautify the nation, they preserve our heritage, and they ask for nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t