NC WWII Experience: Eleanor Kennedy--Gold Star

During the war, families hung stars in their windows on banners called "sons in service" flags. A blue star meant that a family had a son or husband in the service. A gold star represented a family that had lost a loved one in the war.


A vintage "sons in service" flag, courtesy of the Clare Crane Collection (AFC/2001/001/1754), Artifact (AR03), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

One of our interviewees, Eleanor Kennedy, remembered the stars in the windows of her Greensboro neighbors: "I do, mainly because my own future mother-in-law had a blue star, two blue stars, and later a blue star and a gold star."

Her future husband, Saul, lost his brother, Edward, who was killed during his first bombing mission in Europe. Upon learning of Edward's death, Saul was flown home to Greensboro from the European theater.


Saul and Edward together in Italy, 1945.

Kennedy recalled, "He had no idea what--how depressed his mother was. And when he got home, he was just almost put into a depression himself because of her condition. She, she just basically couldn't function. I mean, she really had--they didn't use the term then, but, looking back now, I know she really had a clinical depression. And there were no antidepressants at that time. And she, she just, she just kind of fell apart. It was terrible... Everybody was trying to do everything to keep her going, keep her happy. So that's why we didn't get married for two more--two-and-a-half more years."


Maude Kennedy, Saul and Edward's mother, April, 1944.

Kennedy's husband kept all the letters she wrote to him while he was in the war. He also saved the Western Union telegram informing the family of their son's death, a stark reminder of one family's quiet and immense sacrifice.




Eleanor Kennedy at the Women's College of NC, now UNC-Greensboro.