Blue Star Memorial Highway

Douglas County, GA

The Blue Star Memorial program began in 1945 when the National Garden Clubs set markers to honor the armed forces, their emblem taken from the blue-star service flags of the World War II home front. This Douglas County marker was sponsored by the Garden Club of Georgia with the Dogwood Garden Club of Waycross. It honors all who have defended the United States.

Cobb County, GA

This memorial marks the resting place or remembrance of an unknown United States soldier. Markers to unknown soldiers stand for those who fell in service but could not be identified, a practice that grew as American communities sought to honor every casualty of war. In this part of Georgia, such graves and memorials are often tied to the region's role as a major theater of the Civil War.

College Park, GA

This memorial arch carries a spare dedication — 'In Memory, Sgt Johnson, Class 1935' — the kind of institutional tribute placed to honor a member of a school or unit who was lost. Such commemorative arches and plaques became common in the early twentieth century as communities and campuses marked the service and sacrifice of their own. The inscription names the man and his class year but leaves the fuller story to memory.

Marietta, GA

Blue Star Memorial Highways trace their name to the blue-star service flags that families hung in their windows during World War II, one star for each loved one in uniform. Begun by garden clubs in 1945 and carried across the country in the decades after, the program lines American roadsides with living tributes to those who have served. This Marietta marker was placed by Georgia garden clubs in cooperation with the Veterans of Foreign Wars.