During a May 30 Memorial Day ceremony, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock honored families whose relatives made the ultimate sacrifice while serving their country.  

“Memorial Day is about remembering those who served and sacrificed their lives for this country,” Chancellor Andrew Rogerson said. “This year we are honoring Gold Star families. Let us never forget Memorial Day is the time for Americans, as one body, to stand and say, ‘Thank you; we remember you; we are eternally grateful to you.’”

Gold Star families are immediate relatives of U.S. Armed Forces members who died in battle or in support of certain military activities. The term is a World War I reference.

“Family members would hang a service flag in their window, which included a blue star for every immediate family member serving in the Armed Forces,” said Kathy Oliverio, director of military student success. “If a family member was killed in action, the blue star was replaced with a gold star.”

During the ceremony, the Little Rock Air Force Base Honor Guard presented the colors, while Mandi Carreiro and Karen Kuralt sang the national anthem. Michael Eubanks, secretary of UA Little Rock Students Affected by the Military, played taps via saxophone.

Guest speaker Chief Master Sergeant Bubba Beason, who retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2016, described how a 2007 encounter with a Gold Star mother changed his life forever.

Then-First Sergeant Beason was participating in a marathon in commemoration of the Bataan Death March.

When the U.S. surrendered the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines to the Japanese in 1943, approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops were forced to march a treacherous 65-mile journey to prison camps. Thousands of soldiers died during the march.

While at the marathon, Beason struck up a conversation with Janice Bridges, who was wearing a pin with a picture of her son Michael Paul Bridges. Beason asked where Michael was stationed, but Janice replied that she was a Gold Star mother.

Beason was unfamiliar with the term, so Janice explained her son was killed in Iraq the previous year (2006), weeks before he was scheduled to come home.

“I didn’t know what to say,” Beason said. “I couldn’t believe that after 16 years in the military I did not know what a Gold Star mother is.”

Moved by her story, Beason asked Janice if he could carry one of Michael’s possessions during the marathon to honor his sacrifice. Janice gave him Michael’s watch, which gave Beason great strength during the marathon.

“Every time I wanted to stop, I looked at Michael’s watch,” Beason said. “The pain I was going through was nothing compared to the pain Michael’s mother was going through.”

“Since that day 10 years ago, I’ve approached life differently,” Beason said. “My life changed because I met a Gold Star mother.”

To honor his fallen brothers and sisters, Beason organized the first Arkansas Run for the Fallen. Now in its fifth year, the event draws people from throughout the state who walk a mile in honor of every Arkansas service member who died while serving since Sept. 11, 2001.

Beason has helped organize similar runs in New Jersey, California, Arizona, and South Carolina.  

“They are my brothers and sisters,” Beason said. “It is my duty to remember their sacrifices every day.”

In the upper right photo, Janessa Rogerson and Chancellor Andrew Rogerson watch Michael Eubanks play the taps during UA Little Rock’s May 30 Memorial Day service. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/UA Little Rock Communications.