Gold Star Moms Change Rules for Yonkers Mom

Jun 29, 2005 - (Dallas) A group for women who have lost children in military conflicts voted Monday to allow non-citizens to join, after coming under criticism for denying membership to a Filipina living in New York whose son was killed in Afghanistan.

The 1929 charter of American Gold Star Mothers, a Washington, D.C., group of about 1,200 mothers, had prevented non-citizen mothers from joining. Earlier this year, the organization's 12-member executive board voted against changing the rule.

That prevented Ligaya Lagman, of Yonkers, from joining, although she is a legal resident and her son, 27-year-old son Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Lagman, was a U.S. citizen.

After hearing about Lagman's interest in joining, New York Gov. George Pataki and other lawmakers urged the group to change its rules.

``Quite simply, the loss a mother endures when her son or daughter makes the ultimate sacrifice for our nation is no less honorable or admirable because of her citizenship status,'' Pataki said Monday.

Some of the organization's past presidents supported the change, but other leaders and members had debated whether to make the revisions proposed by the Florida chapter. The change was approved unanimously Monday afternoon during the American Gold Star Mothers' 68th annual convention in the Dallas area.

``AGSM changes will continue to be evolutionary rather than reactionary,'' said Judith Young, the group's new president. ``This change to our constitution was the right thing to do, but we had to make the change the right way.''

Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., whose district includes Lagman's Yonkers home and who led a group of members of Congress to write the American Gold Star Mothers, said the group made the right decision with the rule change.

``I'm so proud that they acted quickly to remedy this inequity,'' Lowey said. ``Mothers who have lost sons or daughters in service to our nation share the same grief. Today's action will help ensure they are all are honored for their sacrifice.''

Lagman's application was initiated by Ben Spadaro, a Yonkers veteran who said he learned about the group's citizenship rules and thought she should be allowed to join.

``I think justice has been done,'' Spadaro said. ``They are a great outfit that just needed to come to their senses about this.''

Before Monday's vote, Lagman had decided to stop pursuing membership. Another woman, Carmen Palmer, a native of Jamaica who lives in Mount Vernon, N.Y., chose to look into membership in the group. Her son, Bernard Gooden, was killed in Iraq in 2003.

American Gold Star Mothers plans to reach out to both women, Young said in a statement.

Legal residents who are not citizens have long served as everything from cooks to front line soldiers, though not generally as officers. Irish immigrants fought in the Civil War, and during World War II more than 100,000 non-citizens, mostly from Europe, enlisted in the military. More than 140 non-citizen troops have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

(Fair Use)

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