Blue Star Memorial Highway A tribute to the Armed
Marianna, Jackson County, Florida
Marker Inscription
Blue Star Memorial Highway A tribute to the Armed Forces that have defended the United States of America sponsored by Florida Federation of Garden Clubs in association with Florida State Road Department and The Marianna Garden Club
Erected by National Garden Clubs, Inc.
The Story
The Blue Star Memorial Highway program grew from a 1945 garden-club effort to honor World War II service members, taking its name from the blue-star service flags families displayed for loved ones in uniform. This Marianna, Florida marker was sponsored by the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs with the state road department and the Marianna Garden Club. It joins thousands of similar tributes lining American highways.
Why it matters
These markers show how a simple wartime symbol became a nationwide, community-tended memorial to all who serve.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Blue Star Memorial Highway A tribute to the Armed
Lake City, FL
The Blue Star Memorial Highway idea started in 1945 with New Jersey garden clubs and spread across the country, drawing on the blue-star service flags of the World Wars to honor those in uniform. This Lake City, Florida marker was sponsored by District V of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs with the Lake City Garden Club. It is one link in a highway-spanning chain of tributes.
U.S. Coast Guard Monument
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Long before it was a branch of the modern armed forces, the U.S. Coast Guard began as scattered predecessor services — the Revenue Cutter Service, the Lighthouse Service, the Life-Saving Service — that patrolled America's coasts and rivers. This monument traces Mobile's link to that lineage back to 1819, when the revenue cutter Alabama was stationed at the young Gulf port to chase smugglers and enforce the new nation's customs laws. From that single cutter grew two centuries of unbroken service watching over one of the busiest harbors on the Gulf of Mexico.
Brinson
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Blue Star Memorial A tribute to the Armed Forces
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Blue Star Memorials trace to 1945, when garden clubs planted flowering trees along a New Jersey highway to honor World War II service members, later broadening to salute the entire armed forces. In Blakely, the Garden Club of Georgia joined its Magnolia District and the Blakely Garden Club to raise this marker. The blue star echoes the service flags families hung for relatives in uniform.