Blue Star Memorial

DeKalb County, GA

The Blue Star Memorial program grew from a 1945 New Jersey highway planting honoring World War II troops into a coast-to-coast tribute to every branch of the armed forces. Here in DeKalb County, the county Federation of Garden Clubs worked with the Redbud District and the Garden Club of Georgia to place the marker. Its blue star recalls the service flags hung in the windows of homes with loved ones at war.

Atlanta, GA

The blue star of these markers recalls the service flags of World War II, when families hung a blue star for each loved one in uniform. Garden clubs launched the Blue Star Memorial Highway program in 1945 and expanded it nationwide in partnership with state transportation departments. This Atlanta marker was placed by the Garden Club of Georgia with its Dogwood District.

Stone Mountain, GA

Begun in 1945 and named for the blue-star service flags of World War II, the Blue Star Memorial Highway program enlisted garden clubs to dedicate American roads as tributes to the armed forces. Local clubs partnered with state and district garden councils to place the distinctive markers. This one near Stone Mountain was sponsored by three Smoke Rise garden clubs with the Redbud District.

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.