In Iraq for 365

About my experiences in Iraq... the frustrations, the missions and this country... and the journey home

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Gold Star

Some of the best soldiers I have served with are not even American citizens. While in Iraq, I was fascinated with non-U.S. citizens who fought for America even though it wasn’t technically their country. I wrote stories on soldiers originally from Hati, Iraq, Australia and New Zealand, all of whom cared more about America than your average citizen. To me they represent what America is about more than anything: People leaving their homeland for a second chance.

Many of these non-U.S. citizens have been killed in combat, protecting our freedoms. One of those soldiers was Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Lagman, a Filipino. He was killed last year in Afghanistan when his unit came under fire during a mission to drive out remnants of Taliban and al-Qaida forces.

His mother, Ligaya Lagman, is not a U.S. citizen either even though she lives in the states. Since her son’s death, she applied for the American God Star Mothers Inc., an organization of mothers who lost children in combat. The organization is currently being bombarded by letters from citizens and of all people, Sen. Clinton is actually calling for the organization to permit Lagman into their organization. But according to the organization’s bylaws, it does not permit non citizens to join. The organization’s president had this to say…

“There’s nothing we can do because that’s what our organization says: You have to be an American citizen,” national President Ann Herd said in May. “We can’t go changing the rules every time the wind blows.”

The group receives national funding, which means it’s subject to public scrutiny more so than a private company. I for one am disgusted. While I certainly feel for the mothers who belong to the Gold Star Mothers organization, they must admit Ms. Lagman. After all, the only thing that separates her from the other members is a piece of paper that says “U.S. Citizen,” a title her son died for.

20 Comments:

At 8:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

yeah, Casanova, I saw in the news that the Gold Star Mothers had their annual convention in Dallas and voted in new rules that permit non-citizen mothers into the organization. It was really the only decent thing they could do. Their sons/daughters gave their lives to uphold the very foundation of our country...... freedom. After all, we all were, or are related to, someone who was a foreigner once. Even native Americans came from another country. Some tend to forget this.

 
At 8:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yea, they changed it Monday. I'm glad they finally allowed abit of common sense seep through

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,160860,00.html

 
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At 5:07 PM, Blogger devildog6771 said...

If I am not mistaken they may be chartered by Congress. I know the DOD has guidelines about the banner's size, etc.

I don't remember exactly what is involved to make a change but when Mike died, Grandmothers were accidently left off the list but step-mothers weren't.

At least as best I remember. They were diligently trying to get enough petition signatures to change this over sight at that time. So they were sending the banners to grandmothers anyway.

They aren't strict to exclude deserving people, they are strict to preserve the integrity of the symbolism it represents. Probably noone ever brought up this issue before and they simply never thought of it.

But they really are a very dedicated organization to the families of our fallen soldiers.

 
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