With Stars, DAR Tells Soldiers,

Sailors They’re Remembered

By LIBBY CUDMORE • allotsego.com

Edition of Thursday-Friday Dec. 25-26, 2014

WORCESTER

While Roxanne Murray was teaching second grade at Cooperstown Central School, she always did a program on Veteran’s Day with her class. But after retiring in 2012, she was still looking for a way to honor the troops.

“I was at a Daughters of the American Revolution function, and I was talking to a woman about this program I’d heard about called Stars for Troops,” she said. “I asked her if she knew anything about it.”

That woman was Maj. Roberta Comerford, Cortland, who has served in Iraq and Kuwait, and not only had she heard of it, she had received a star. “She got so emotional, she could barely talk about it,” Murray said. “She had one that she wore in her helmet the whole time she was in Iraq.”

An Air Force chaplain had received some in a package, and he was handing them out to friends.

“It’s so nice to be remembered from home while you’re away,” Comerford said.

Inspired by her story, Murray and the Iroquois Chapter DAR in Worcester began meeting to cut flags and distribute the stars. “We give the large stars to veterans and send the small ones to troops serving overseas,” she said.

Each star comes packaged in a small bag with a note that reads, “I am part of an American Flag that has flown over the USA. I can no longer fly. The sun and winds caused me to be tattered and torn. Please carry me as a reminder that you are not forgotten.”

Since then, the Worcester DAR has given stars to more than 300 veterans and active service members. “It’s important for them to know we support our troops,” she said.

However, finding people to give them to hasn’t always been easy. “Accurate records are hard to find,” she said. “We want to make sure we get them to veterans in Cooperstown and Oneonta.”

The program is not sanctioned by the DAR; in fact, Murray said, many are against it. “But our chapter, the Iroquois chapter – we believe in it,” she said. “Wouldn’t you rather have the stars to appreciate them instead of seeing them burned up?”

Section 8(k), Chapter 1, Title 4 of the United States Code states: “The flag, when it is in such a condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.”

That usually happens on Veterans Day, as happened last month in Oneonta’s Neahwa Park, at Cooperstown’s Doughboy Statue and around the county.

On that holiday, 13 large stars were given to veterans at the Schenevus Central School’s annual Veteran’s Day Breakfast in November.

“We take the remnants of the flag to the American Legion for burning,” said Murray.

And there are still plenty of stars ready to be sent, especially as local churches and organizations begin packing Christmas boxes to send to the troops. “If anyone has a son, a daughter, a cousin or a friend serving overseas, we’ll send them a star.”