Blue Star Memorial Highway A tribute to the Nation's

St. Marys, GA

Blue Star Memorial Highways began in 1945, when the National Garden Clubs planted a ribbon of dogwoods along a New Jersey highway to honor the servicemen and women of World War II. The blue star echoed the flags families hung in their windows for a loved one in uniform. The idea spread across the country, and markers like this one now stand along thousands of miles of American road, turning ordinary highways into quiet corridors of remembrance for all who have served.

Brunswick, GA

During World War II, the J. A. Jones Construction Company's Brunswick shipyard employed more than 16,000 men and women who built 99 steel 'Liberty Ships' between 1942 and 1944. Turning out roughly four of the 447-foot cargo and troop carriers each month, the workers once built seven in a single December as the Battle of the Bulge raged in Europe. Their ships helped keep the Allied supply lines open.

Toombs County, GA

The Blue Star Memorial was created in 1945 by the National Garden Clubs to honor those who served in World War II, its blue star taken from the service flags families displayed for loved ones in uniform. In Toombs County this marker was set by the Garden Club of Georgia with the state highway department, the county commissioners, and the Lyons Garden Club. It is one of the markers that names World War II directly.

Savannah, GA

This memorial stands in Savannah, the coastal Georgia city that sent thousands of its sons to fight in World War II, a conflict that pulled ordinary Chatham County men into battlefields across Europe, the Pacific, and North Africa between 1941 and 1945. Titled "A World Apart," it honors those who never came home — the local cost of a global war fought to halt fascist aggression and defend the freedom of the United States. Coastal Georgia itself was on a wartime footing in these years, with nearby shipyards, airfields, and the ever-present threat of enemy submarines just offshore.