Gold Star Mother: It’s Memorial Day 365 days a year for us

Mona Gunn's message: Remember the risks of service members take for us
Her son died while in the Navy during an attack on the USS Cole
Gunn led a group dedicated to mother's who lost children in the service

Updated: May 29, 2023 / 04:41 PM CDT

(NewsNation) — For Mona Gunn, every day is Memorial Day.

“We have families who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. And we never want people to forget that there are servicemen and women who lay down their lives and shed blood so that we can have our freedoms,” Gunn said on “NewsNation Now” on Monday.

Gunn was the first Black president of the American Gold Star Mothers, a nonprofit organization of American mothers who have lost their children in service of the United States Armed Forces.

Her son, Navy Signalman Seaman Cherone Louis Gunn, died on Oct. 12, 2000. He was one of 17 sailors who died during the terrorist attack on the USS Cole.

“Only 1% of the U.S. population choose to go into the military,” she said. “And even though we have Gold Star families, and even though those young people who choose to join know that there’s a possibility that they may not come home, they still choose to join the military. So appreciate those who are on active duty as well.”

Mothers of active duty service members can join Blue Star Mothers of America, but if their child dies while in active duty, a gold star is super-imposed on it, Gunn explained.

“We celebrate Memorial Day every day. Three hundred sixty-five days of the year, it’s Memorial Day for Gold Star families,” Gunn said.