Date Visited: August 7, 2016
Location: Charles R. Stanton Plaza, in front of the JD’s Tavern and Radisson hotel, 700 Elm St # 1, Manchester, NH
Hours: Open daily, 24 hours a day
Cost: Free
Parking: You can usually find metered off street parking
Dog Friendly: Yes
I found this statue to be timely considering some of the discourse these days. The Grieving Gold Star Mother statue located, appropriately, across the street from the Veterans Memorial Park at Charles R. Stanton Plaza in front of the Radisson and JD’s Tavern at 700 Elm St, Manchester, NH, is a tribute to all mothers and families who have lost a loved one at war.
The Grieving Gold Star Mother shows the teary eyed mom clutching a telegram, presumably with the notice of her son’s death. A potted planted lies knocked over in front of a photo of her son.
The 407 pound bronze statue, sculpted by Andrew Chernak, was said to depict a mother from World War II because that is the war that had the most fatalities. However, the Gold Star Mothers group was formed by Grace Darling Seibold during World War I when her son, George Vaughn Seibold, was lost (his body was never identified). In an effort to console herself and other mothers who had lost a child during the war, Grace created the group. The group not only consoled each grieving mother. They also dedicated themselves to doing community service and visiting wounded service members.
There are two Grieving Gold Star Mother statues in the U.S. The first Grieving Gold Star Mother statue is located in Carmel, New York. There is also a Gold Star Mother and a Gold Star Father memorial with statues of each Gold Star parent in Clinton, Ohio.
Bricks with the names of all of the wars the United States have been involved in (Colonial and post Colonial times) have been placed in front of the statue. The list of conflicts and wars and the loss of lives involved in those actions are staggering.
The memorial in New Hampshire was erected in April 15, 2011.
September 7th, 2016 at 6:40 pm
What a pity that there is a need for such a statue, lovely as it is.
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September 7th, 2016 at 10:00 pm
I agree. It is very sad.
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September 7th, 2016 at 7:15 pm
Good post. Thanks for sharing these photos.
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September 7th, 2016 at 10:04 pm
Thank you. I think it is a somewhat unknown memorial. It is located away from the sidewalk and you would have to be looking for it to know what it is. I had never heard about it before I searched for these types of memorials.
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September 8th, 2016 at 2:06 pm
Interesting. PLeasure to read and view this post.
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September 8th, 2016 at 7:04 pm
Thank you.
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September 7th, 2016 at 10:25 pm
I never even knew this existed. Thanks for posting this!
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September 8th, 2016 at 11:11 am
Thank you, Cheryl. It is almost hidden away. You may not notice it unless you are looking for it. In fact, you’re more likely to notice it if you go to JD’s Tavern and the hotel next to it. They may have wanted to place it away from the main traffic on Elm St so people can have some privacy and peace while they are visiting the memorial. It’s definitely a must see if you’re in the area.
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September 8th, 2016 at 1:41 am
This is a timely post. I didn’t know about this, thank you for sharing.
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September 8th, 2016 at 11:13 am
Yes, it is very timely. It’s also unfortunate that the plight of Gold Star parents only came to light after such an ugly discourse. Thank you, Brenda.
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September 8th, 2016 at 10:50 am
A very moving memorial.
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September 8th, 2016 at 11:14 am
Thank you. I was very moved by the memorial. I’m always touched by these memorials but this one touched me personally.
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September 8th, 2016 at 2:03 pm
Very timely post. The expression on her face is haunting.
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September 8th, 2016 at 7:04 pm
It is very moving and it is another stark reminder of just how much our servicemen and women and their families have sacrificed. Thank you.
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