U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, with a bipartisan group of cosponsors, has filed a resolution designating Sept. 20-26, 2020, as “Gold Star Families Remembrance Week” to honor the families of fallen members of the Armed Forces.

Gold Star Families Remembrance Week precedes Gold Star Mother’s Day, observed by presidential proclamation since 1936 on the last Sunday of September.  The resolution would serve to provide an official time dedicated to the families of U.S. military service members who lost their lives in service to the nation.

“The loss of any service member pains all Americans, and that grief is multiplied a thousand times over for the families they leave behind.  These families, who share in the sacrifices required of anyone in the military, deserve to be honored,” said Hyde-Smith, who introduced the first-ever Gold Star families week resolution in 2018.  “This resolution rightfully recognizes the families affected by the loss of a loved one in service to our country.”

U.S. Senators Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Jackie Rosen (D-Nev.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Todd Young (R-Ind.) are original cosponsors of the 2020 resolution.

In setting aside Sept. 20-26 as a week of remembrance for Gold Star families, the resolution encourages Americans to perform acts of service and goodwill to honor “the families of members of the Armed Forces who made the ultimate sacrifice in order to defend freedom and protect the United States, and the families of veterans of the Armed Forces.”

Hyde-Smith also filed the resolution to the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which the Senate has debated this week.

Until the passage of Hyde-Smith’s 2018 resolution, there was no formal recognition on a national level of the sacrifices made by families of the fallen.

A copy of the 2020 Gold Star Families Remembrance Week resolution is available here.

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