Army Specialist Christian Ward of Lowell was killed in a 2019 military helicopter crash. His parents, Gary and Karla Ward, have been involved in local groups supporting veterans and their families. They will be part of the Honor and Remembrance Gold Star Ceremony 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28, at Marietta Gold Star Park at 801 Lancaster St. in Marietta with other area Gold Star families who lost a service member in the line of duty. (Photo provided)

The families of service members who died in the service of their country will be honored Sunday in Marietta.

The Honor and Remembrance Gold Star Ceremony will be 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28, at Marietta Gold Star Park at 801 Lancaster St. The event is being put on by Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and the Veterans Service Commission.

“This is a Gold Star Day service and it is to honor the families of fallen military members that were killed in action,” said Adjacent David Brown of DAV Chapter 52 of Marietta – one of the organizers of the event for the Washington County Veterans Service Commission. “This area has a large number of veterans, a high percentage of veterans.

“Having a high percentage of veterans means we have a high percentage of Gold Star families.”

Sunday’s ceremony is about acknowledging those families and what they have gone through in losing a service member, Brown said.

“The intent is to acknowledge all of our Gold Star families,” he said. “We also wanted to give a little credit to the organizations that support the Gold Star families.”

The featured speaker will be Mary Tallouzi, a Gold Star mother involved with the Wounded Warrior Project whose son Daniel was wounded on Sept. 25, 2006, while on duty in Iraq during a mortar attack where a piece of shrapnel the size of a quarter crossed both hemispheres of Daniel’s brain and lodged in the center.

He spent more than two years in hospitals before returning home where his mother took care of him 24 hours a day.

According to her biography, Tallouzi said she met representatives of the Wounded Warrior Project while Daniel was still in a coma.

“They thanked him for his service and presented him with a backpack – a symbol of waking up and moving forward,” she said in her bio. “And they let me know I would not be alone.”

Daniel passed away on Feb. 28, 2009, due to complications from his brain injury.

His mother continued to work with the Wounded Warrior Project, continuing to advocate for the needs of injured veterans and their families.

“Life stops for the advocate,” Tallouzi said in her bio. “As a caregiver, I experienced that profound change of life.

“We cannot accept the status quo when it comes to the care of our Veterans. We must strive to change the mindset of America and build a stronger network for the care of our veterans and the support of their caregivers.”

She also had another son Christopher who also had deployed to Iraq with the U.S. Army and returned home safely after his 2004 deployment.

“She will talk about what it is like to be both a Gold Star and a Blue Star mother,” Brown said of the support systems available to military families. “(She will speak about) how they helped her get through the loss of her son.”

Gary Ward, who lost his son Army Spc. Christian Ward of Lowell in a 2019 military helicopter crash, will be there Sunday with his wife, Karla, and escorting other Gold Star families to their seats.

“When family members have been killed in the service, a lot of things happen in that time immediately after their death,” Ward said. “As time goes on, people go back to their daily lives.

“People need to remember our fallen military members and it is such an honor to the families. Each (service member and their families) have their own stories.”

Ward is thankful to the DAV and the others for putting on Sunday’s event.

“This is an opportunity for people to come out and look at Gold Star Park and the monuments that have been placed,” he said.

The event is for the community to be able to get to know who the Gold Star families are in the area and to highlight the Gold Star Park and all of the memorials there.

“It is a day to celebrate the families who support the fallen soldiers,” Brown said. “Unfortunately, some Gold Star families do get lost in the shuffle.

“We want to acknowledge them. There are many people in this community who are Gold Star families and people don’t even know it.”

The event is free and open to the public.

“We would like to have as many people there as we can possibly get,” Brown said.