Blue or gold star service flags and decals often are seen throughout the Central Flint Hills Region. The back window of a car might have a decal showing a blue star on a white background with a red border. The front window of a home may display a white flag with a gold star bordered in blue. The stars pay tribute to servicemembers who either currently serve or died serving their country.

Service flags and decals originated during World War I. Army Capt. Robert L. Queissner of the 5th Ohio Infantry designed the first service flags in 1917 to honor his two sons serving on the front lines. The banners soon became unofficial symbols of Families who had a member in the service.

Queissner’s symbolic creation reached the White House a year later. President Woodrow Wilson approved a suggestion made by the Women’s Committee of the Council of National Defenses that mothers who had lost a child serving in the war wear a gold star on a black arm band while in mourning.

A few years later, the gold star was placed on a small flag. The star had a thin, blue outline to indicate that a servicemember had died in battle.

Service flags were common in World War II, as many Families had at least one member serving in the military. Though it was common to see flags containing one star, the most famous gold star flag had five stars – one for each of the Sullivan brothers who perished on the U.S.S. Juneau, a light cruiser. Albert, Francis, George, Joseph and Madison Sullivan of Waterloo, Iowa, were all on the Juneau when it was sunk during a battle with Japanese naval ships in November 1942 near the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.

Blue and gold star flags and decals also were common sights during the Vietnam War. Today, tributes to servicemembers continue to grow in Kansas. The Kansas Department of Revenue began issuing license plates honoring gold star mothers in March. But a Kansas woman is in the process of taking the gold star banner a step further.

Judy Dietz is asking for the Kansas legislature to create a state license plate commemorating gold star Families. Dietz was just 9 years old when her father, Glenn Nicholson, a U.S. Army tank commander was killed in combat May 5, 1968, in Vietnam.

“This plate represents a life that has been lost and to remind everyone that freedom is not free,” Dietz said. “The Gold Star Family license plate is my way of honoring my father so he and all other fallen warriors will never be forgotten.”

Her father’s death left her mother, Emilie, alone to raise eight children. Emilie Nicholson died in November 2008. Dietz said her endeavor to get a new license plate available would honor both of her parents.

“It may have been 41 years for me, but to be honest, the pain never leaves,” Dietz said. “I made this promise to my dying mom and I will continue to fight the fight.”

The chairwoman of the Kansas Gold Star Family Committee is working with state Sen. Dick Kelsey on a bill dedicated to Families who’ve suffered the loss of members in combat. A similar plate already is available to gold star Families in Ohio.