Purpose, Historical Legacy & Information Security

Questions here are intended to ensure your contact information is up-to-date and that you are included in its general statements about those who lost their fathers in World War II. (example: "40% of respondents are WWII Gold Star Children whose fathers served in the US Army.")

Questions here are intended to gain some details about your mother and any siblings you may have. In addition to helping AWON make general statements about its membership, these details will facilitate updating the AWON database.

The answers provided here will enable AWON to gather information and summarize share general statements about the fathers of its members: (example: 'During World War II, 35% of AWON members' fathers were lost in the years of 1942 and 1945.').

This final question is intended to solicit your opinion on possible changes to the criteria for awarding the Gold Star Lapel Button (Gold Star Pin) and its corresponding title. Provided below is the Department of Defense criteria (established in 1947) for awarding the Gold Star Lapel Button (Gold Star pin) to immediate family members of servicemembers who lost their lives while deployed in military conflict. Also provided is a general explanation that could re-define the criteria for awarding the Gold Star Lapel Button (Gold Star pin) and its corresponding title. Please tell us how you feel about this issue.

GOLD STAR LAPEL BUTTON The Gold Star Lapel Button (also called the Gold Star Pin) was designed and created in 1947 for certain family members of those who died in combat in World War II. The Gold Star Lapel Button is a gold star on a field of purple surrounded by laurel leaves. According to 10 U.S. Code § 1126(a), “the military departments shall provide a Gold Star Lapel Button to each of the immediate family members of servicemembers who lost their lives while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States, while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force, while serving with friendly forces engaged in an armed conflict in which the United States is not a belligerent party against an opposing armed force, as the result of an international terrorist attack against the United States or a foreign nation friendly to the United States or as the result of military operations while serving outside the United States as part of a peacekeeping force.” Families of those servicemembers who died by suicide or from a medical emergency outside deployment are not, by law, Gold Star family members but may qualify for the Next of Kin Lapel Button. According to 10 USC § 1126(d), "the Gold Star Lapel Button shall be distributed to the widow or widower (remarried or not), each parent (mother, father, stepmother, stepfather, mother through adoption, father through adoption, and foster parents); each child, each brother, each sister, each half-brother, each half-sister, each stepchild, and each adopted child of the servicemember.” NEXT OF KIN LAPEL BUTTON Approved in 1973, the Next of Kin Lapel Button (also referred to as the Next of Kin Pin) is provided to the families of servicemembers who lost their lives while serving on active duty or while serving in a drill status as a member of the National Guard or Reserves but not KIA. The Next of Kin Lapel Button is gold, with a star within a circle of sprigs of oak. According to the Department of Defense (DOD), A Survivor’s Guide to Benefits, “The star within the circle commemorates honorable service and the sprigs of oak refer to the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force.”

This change is proposed based on the importance of recognizing all who have served and died, regardless of how or where that death occurred. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) does not distinguish by cause of death. There should be no differentiation based on the geography or circumstances of death for a service member, whether they died in combat, by accident, as a result of an illness, or by suicide. A service member's death is honored and remembered based on their life and service - not based on the geography or circumstance of the death.

Thank you for sharing your story in this survey. Since 9/11 - and more so in recent years - there has been a heightened focus on America's Gold Star Families. Your participation in this Census Survey helps represents and advocate for you and other Gold Star Families and POW/MIA Families from World War II. Thank you for your participation and support!