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Military families, including Boynton Beach mother, to be honored

Alexandra Seltzer | Palm Beach Post

The mother of Boynton Beach slain soldier Michael Metcalf will travel to Port St. Lucie this Sunday for the Gold Star Families Memorial Monument event. She hopes other mothers and families will join her.

The event begins at 3 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Park at 2100 Southeast Veterans Memorial Parkway. A monument will be unveiled and will be dedicated to the local families who have lost a loved one in the military.

“It’s a very honorable day,” said Kim Metcalf, Michael Metcalf’s mother. “They worked very hard on this to dedicate it to us.”

Metcalf was 22 when he was killed in Afghanistan in 2012 when he drove over a roadside bomb while on the way to rescue fellow soldiers.

US Marine H.W. Woody Williams, the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from Iwo Jima, will participate in the ceremony. Also, the Pentagon has approved a military flyover during the ceremony.

The Gold Star mothers group works to help soldiers currently in the military and their families and communities, veterans, as well as the families and communities of those soldiers who have died.

“The togetherness is wonderful. It’s a good feeling to know you’re not alone,” Metcalf said. “We don’t want our children to be forgotten. We keep the memory of our sons and daughters alive.”