SWAMPSCOTT — Massachusetts landmarks will glow gold this Memorial Day as part of a statewide tribute honoring military service members who lost their lives serving the country, an effort spearheaded by the Military Friends Foundation.
The illuminating initiative, known as Operation Gold Star, was signed into law as a part of the HERO Act by Gov. Maura Healey in August 2024 and returns this year for its second Memorial Day observance.
Bridges and landmarks across the Commonwealth, including the Gold Star Families Bridge in Lynn, the Zakim and Longfellow bridges in Boston, the Fore River Bridge in Quincy, and the Burns Bridge in Shrewsbury, are scheduled to be illuminated in gold throughout the holiday weekend.
Retired Brigadier Gen. Tom Sellars, president of the Military Friends Foundation’s board of directors, said the illuminations are intended to create a visible reminder that Massachusetts continues to honor fallen service members and the families they left behind.
“The message is that Massachusetts does not forget the fallen,” Sellars said. “This is Memorial Day, and the citizenry becomes focused on military service and those people lost to military service … Massachusetts recognizes those people all the time.”
Sellars said the illuminated landmarks serve as a symbolic public display during one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
“I think it’s kind of a visual cue for people that travel, particularly on this weekend,” he said.
The Military Friends Foundation worked alongside MassDOT, the Massachusetts Department of Veterans Services, legislators, and local partners to help bring the initiative to life. Sellars credited the organization’s Executive Director, Sarah Sweeney, with helping build early support for the project.
“She was really able to build a coalition that kind of just took right off with this project,” Sellars said.
Sellars, who retired from the Massachusetts Army National Guard in 2011 after 37 years of service, said his involvement with the foundation grew naturally after years of working with military families during his military career.
“When I retired from the military, it was kind of a natural transition where I began to continue to champion for the military families and service members who were deployed,” he said.
The nonprofit organization provides support and emergency assistance to veterans, active duty military families, and Gold Star families, including helping relatives travel or respond in the immediate aftermath of a military death or serious injury overseas.
“We want to support them, and we want to help them in that moment of crisis,” Sellars said.
Sellars said honoring military families is central to the foundation’s mission, because a person’s military service often extends beyond themselves.
“The family has to continue to work together and hold it all together while a soldier is activated or deployed,” he said.
While Operation Gold Star centers around Memorial Day weekend, Sellars said the foundation works year-round to support families of service members through events and outreach programs across Massachusetts.
Those efforts include the Run for the Fallen in Dedham, where signs honoring fallen service members line the route alongside participating families, and the annual Gold Star Family Tree ceremony at the State House.
Sellars said he believes the gold illuminations will continue to grow as a Memorial Day tradition across the Commonwealth.
“I can see this going well into the future,” he said.
