Governor Kelly signed Senate Bill 330 authorizing the construction of a permanent memorial honoring Kansas Gold Star families on Statehouse Grounds.
This legislation comes after Governor Kelly directed Executive Director of the Governor’s Military Council, LTG Perry Wiggins, to explore the process to install a permanent monument and to spearhead the formation of the Gold Star Memorial Fundraising Committee.
Hershel “Woody” Williams, a retired Marine Corps warrant officer and the only living Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, challenged Kelly to add a Gold Star Families Monument on Statehouse grounds after meeting at the Gold Star Families Memorial Monument at Olathe Veteran’s Memorial Park in September 2020.
A Gold Star Family is the immediate family of a fallen service member who died while serving in a time of conflict. The monument will be on the Veterans’ Walk at the Kansas Statehouse.
