WASHINGTON   –  “Perhaps you have seen one – a banner called a Service Flag displayed in a window or outside a home in your community.  Also called a Blue Star flag or a Gold Star flag, the Blue Star represents a family member serving during a time of war and the Gold Star represents a family member who has died in the service of our country.  They are officially authorized by the U.S. Department of Defense for display by families who include loved ones serving in our armed services during a time of war.

The Service Flag is a way for American families to express their pride in a father or mother, a wife or a husband, a son or a daughter, a granddaughter or a grandson who is far from home, serving in uniform.  I love our American flag; I love the Service Flag almost as much.  It is a relatively simple banner with a wide border and a single star in the center of a white field.  That star represents an American, perhaps far from home, protecting the blessings of liberty for us all.

It is very unfortunate that, in a few instances, family members who live in apartments, coop buildings or condominiums have been asked to take the Service Flag down.  One story tells of a woman who put a Service Flag in her window to honor her son, a soldier in Iraq injured twice by roadside bombs during his multiple tours of duty.  She was asked to remove the flag – despite its important meaning to the families who display it.

In 2005, I supported the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act, which became law and protects the rights of Americans to display our flag in condominiums and apartments.  Today, I am supporting the same protections for the display of the Service Flag.  No family missing a soldier who is away from home in the service of our nation should be told they may not honor that man or woman in uniform.  This legislation is a promise to those families that they will be able to display with pride the official recognition this banner extends to them for the sacrifices they make and the tears they shed. 

When someone you love is in harm’s way, serving far from home during a time of war, you feel the absence in many ways.  It is a constant source of stress for the person you miss and the person who misses you.  The families who choose to display the Service Flag are in the middle of a great hardship, but the Gold Star banner or the Blue Star banner is not displayed to tell us that – it is displayed to recognize that this time of sacrifice is also a time of great pride.

It is also a time for all of us to share the sacrifice by pulling together in our communities.  By volunteering your time to a family missing a servicemember, by making a meal or sharing one with them, or by finding generous ways to help them weather the absence of a loved one, we can all make a huge difference in the burden they bear. 

I am extremely proud of every American serving in our armed forces today precisely because of the sacrifice I know they and their families are making.  As I support the Blue Star/Gold Star Flag Act in this Congress, I hope every family entitled to one will display their banners proudly.  I look for them when I travel our Southern Missouri congressional district, and I say a little prayer for every soul represented by the stars I pass by on the street.  There are so many families in Missouri making this sacrifice; we should all make a little sacrifice for them.”