Gold Star Poem by Carolyn Brunelle

Thirty years a military wife,
She always managed to do
What was needed and expected.
She was courage in an apron,
Love at the stove.
Strangers in white gloves
Sent her packing to
Break camp
With her children in tow;
Their lives uprooted to places
She didn’t even know;
Often with no money and no help.
She was every bit the soldier
My father was, but
No one paraded or gave her glory
Or even knew her story, yet
She earned her stripes,
The same my father wore.
Too bad
They don’t give rank and ribbon
To Service Moms,
Her family
Would’ve given her a gold star.