The New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Foundation will hold its annual POW/MIA Gold Star Mothers Recognition Day Ceremony on Sept. 18 at 11 a.m. at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, 1 Memorial Lane, Holmdel, on the grounds of the PNC Bank Arts Center.
The ceremony will honor America’s prisoners of war and those missing in action, those returned and those still unaccounted for from the nation’s wars, according to a press release.
The Gold Star Mothers provide support to American mothers who have lost children in the line of duty of the U.S. armed forces. They focus on providing emotional support to their members, volunteering with veterans and veterans hospitals, and fostering patriotism and respect for members of the armed forces, according to the press release.
Sept. 18 is National POW/MIA Recognition Day and Gold Star Mothers Day is the last Sunday of September.
Speakers for the ceremony will be Ken and Helen Gurbisz, who lost their son, Jim, in 2005. Jim was a captain in the U.S. Army and was serving a tour in Iraq. The couple has been extremely active in the Gold Star Mothers organization and has worked to erect a Gold Star Family Monument at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial. The monument will be dedicated on Sept. 29.
“People don’t realize what happens when you suddenly lose a family member,” Ken Gurbisz said. “It is important for all groups to bring attention to this for those who have suffered this tremendous loss.”
The POW/MIA Gold Star Mothers Ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. at the memorial and is open to the public. Herb Worthington, a trustee of the foundation, will lead the ceremony and the color guard will be from the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 12. Chaplain Joe Formola will give the invocation and benediction. Wreaths will be laid at the memorial by various organizations, according to the press release.
Museum admission is free for all visitors on Sept. 18. The museum is adjacent to the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial off the Garden State Parkway at exit 116 in Holmdel. The memorial is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is free to visit. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.