AVON LAKE, Ohio — Veterans from Avon Lake’s American Legion Post 211 recently commemorated the installation of a Gold Star family memorial in Lorain County.
More than 25 Gold Star families from across the county attended the dedication, including U.S. Rep. Bob Latta (R-5), a representative sent by Gov. Mike DeWine and Lorain County Commissioner David Moore.
Co-Chairman Jacob Smith, who serves as executive director of the Lorain County Veterans Service Commission, said the dedication took place Sept. 29, which is recognized as Gold Star Memorial Day across the country.
“This is the 139th Gold Star memorial dedicated in the nation, and the location is behind the old county courthouse in Elyria,” Smith said.
He said Gold Star memorials differ from most others, in that they honor the families of service personnel who did not return from conflict.
“The concept was started by Woody Williams, who received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions at Iwo Jima,” Smith said.
“He always felt for the parents and siblings and spouses of those who sent their loved ones to war and never saw them again, which is why it is a family memorial.”
The monument is comprised of eight pieces of granite. Smith said the front is the same as others across the country, but the back is customized with excerpts from a letter by Abraham Lincoln to Lydia Bixby, who lost five sons in the Civil War, and various engraved images, including an outline of Lorain County.
Smith, an Army veteran, said, “We are really proud of achieving this monument, as we were told this project should take about 36 months to complete and we were able to dedicate it within 12 months.”
“I was co-chair with Kimberley Hazelgrove, who is a Gold Star spouse who lost her husband in Iraq.
“I am a veteran myself, and what this means to me is I deployed to Iraq and was witness to some of my comrades’ deaths directly, but I did not lose a parent a spouse or a child or anything like that that.
“But the impact is something Kimberley has to deal with every single day, and we dedicated the memorial so people like Kimberley and her family know that the daily sacrifice does not go unnoticed.”
Hazelgrove said her husband, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Brian Hazelgrove, was killed in action serving in Iraq — an event that also ended her own military career in the Army, as rules at that time prohibited her from continuing to serve after his death.
“I take it very personally, as when it happened to me I did not realize all the inequities and problems with benefit delivery and allowing people to rebuild a quality of life financially and emotionally,” she said.
“So I took it as a mission to help the people that came after me have it a little bit better.
“We can never bring our loved ones back, but we can help others heal.”
“The reason I really wanted to be a part of the project and bring it to my local area was once I had separated from the military and moved back to Small Town USA, there was not a lot of awareness of the families, and they were not connected,” she said.
“The memorial brings that awareness and provides a physical place to remember our loved ones and remind our community that we are here, and there is an obligation that surviving families are taken care of.”
She urged surviving families to contact the Lorain County Veterans Service Commission.
“If we know where you are, we can be part of your community and help you.”
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