Ligaya Lagman experienced the same grief and pain as any mother whose son or daughter was killed in combat in the U.S. armed services.
But it was more painful for Lagman, of Westchester, NY, when she was rejected to be a member of the American Gold Star Mothers because, though she is a permanent resident and a taxpayer, she is not a U.S. citizen.
The American Gold Star Mothers is an organization of women whose sons or daughter died in the line of a military duty.
Ligaya Lagman, a Filipino, has lived in the United States for more than 20 years. Her 27-year-old son, Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Lagman, was killed last year in Afghanistan.
As her case gained more publicity, Lagman has dropped her interest in the issue. She told a Filipino paper based in California that she doesn’t want to talk about it anymore, since the Gold Star organization made it clear that nothing can be done because she is not a U.S. citizen.
A veterans group who sponsored Lagman’s application, however, is not giving up pursuing her case.
Ben Spadaro, past president and commander of the Eastchester Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2285, who learned of Anthony Lagman’s death and thought the soldier’s mother would be able to join, said that he and his co-members of the group will fight for the case until the rules are changed.
“We will right this wrong. As we speak, there’s a move in Florida to change this rule,” he said in a Philippine News report.
Spadaro was right.
On June 2, the Florida Chapter of the American Gold Star Mothers, Inc. has passed a resolution calling for the national organization to allow non-citizen mothers of soldiers to join. The decision on rule change may become clearer during the organization’s annual convention in Texas later this month.
The campaign for Lagman’s Gold Star Mothers membership has been supported by some members of the Congress.
Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-NY) said Gold Star Mothers should change its rules immediately. The group’s decision, he said, smacks of xenophobia and is in contrast to what Anthony Lagman fought and died for.
