Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Gold Star Families Day Act”.
Gold Star Families Day Act
A BILL
To amend title 5, United States Code, to designate Gold Star Families Day as a legal public holiday, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds the following:
The term “Gold Star family”—
refers to the immediate family of a servicemember who dies—
while serving in the Armed Forces; or
from a service-connected injury or illness; and
originated from the service flags first flown by families during World War I.
The flags described in paragraph (1)(B) included a blue star for each immediate family member serving in the Armed Forces during any period of war or hostilities in which the Armed Forces were engaged. If a loved one represented by such a blue star died, the blue star was replaced by a gold star, which allowed members of the community to know the price that the family had paid in the cause of defending freedom.
There are Gold Star families from World War I and many thousands from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom.
The United States recognizes the sacrifice that all Gold Star family members make when a father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, or other loved one dies in service to the United States.
Sec. 3 Gold Star Families Day as a legal public holiday
Section 6103(a) of title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to Labor Day the following:
“Gold Star Families Day, the last Monday in September.”