COMMUNITY INVITED TO FALLEN HEROES TREE OF HONOR EVENTS IN BLOOMINGTON, PEORIA, AND DECATUR

18 October, 2024

America's Gold Star Families, Inc. and the Sgt. Anthony Maddox Memorial invites the community to attend the Fallen Heroes Tree of Honor events which are hosted at three Central Illinois locations:

1. Friday, November 15, 2024, at 5:00 PM, at the Central Illinois Regional Airport 3201 Cira Dr., Bloomington, IL 61704
2. Saturday, November 16, 2024, at 10:00am, at the Peoria Riverfront Museum 222 SW Washington St., Peoria, IL 61602
3. Friday, November 29, 2024, at 10:00 AM, at the Decatur Civic Center 1 Gary K Anderson Plaza, Decatur, IL 62523

During each event, Gold Star Families hang their heroes' ornaments on the tree in memory of their hero's life & service to our country. Immediately following the ceremony, the community is invited to assist in hanging the remaining fallen hero ornaments and the lighting of the tree follows. Each hero ornament includes the rank, name, date of birth and death, branch, and the home state of the fallen service men and women.

The program was established to honor our fallen military service members who died while serving on active duty and made the ultimate sacrifice. The events provide hope & healing for Gold Star families when holidays can be a challenging time.

Decatur and Bloomington host two 9-foot trees. Peoria hosts a 14-foot tree - the first tree dedicated to the project - and includes the picture of the fallen hero on each ornament. To date, we have over 400 unique hero ornaments that are placed on all the trees, representing all branches of service and conflicts, from over 40 states.

The community can view each Fallen Hero Tree through the end of the holiday season. The events are made possible through donations made to America's Gold Star Families.

America's Gold Star Families is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization created to assist those grieving any military loss through active-duty service. We include all family members representing all conflicts, all branches of service, and all circumstances of death. For more information visit www.americasgoldstarfamilies.org.