August 4, 2025 • 12 mins
Christine Benne discusses the new Gold Star Family monument being established at Victory Park on Fort Riley, honoring the 13,578 members of the First Infantry Division who made the ultimate sacrifice across multiple conflicts. This monument provides Gold Star families, those who have lost a loved one in military service, a place for reflection and remembrance.
• Gold Star Family Fund initially created to help Kansas families visit the First Infantry Division Memorial in Washington, DC
• Monument features the inscription "Their duty was to serve, Ours is to remember" with the Gold Star family seal
• Monument lists total casualties: 5,516 in WWI, 4,325 in WWII, 3,079 in Vietnam, 27 in Desert Storm, 439 in Iraq, and 192 in Afghanistan
• Unveiling ceremony scheduled for September 26th at 1:00 PM at Victory Park with Senator Marshall and General Rohn attending
• Memorial service at Kansas State Capitol in Topeka on September 25th at 10:00 AM, organized by the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs
• Support for Gold Star families available through Fort Riley's Survivor Outreach Support (SOS) program
To support the Gold Star Family Fund, visit the Armed Forces Community Foundation website at www.armedforcescf.org or contact GMCF directly through mcfks.org.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater
Manhattan Community Foundation.
In this episode we feature arecently broadcast segment of
the GMCF Community Hour, asheard on NewsRadio KMAN.
Back with the GMCF CommunityHour.
My name is Dave Lewis.
Christine Benny is the GMCFDirector of Military Relations.
(00:21):
Is that a new title?
Is that changed?
Military Relations Is that anew title?
Is that changed?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
It's a new title.
It's the same position, but anew title.
Okay, and that means you domore.
Oh, I always do a lot.
Oh I know that, but you'redoing more, I am doing more.
So that puts me in line withKrista that was in here.
So I'm one of the nineaffiliates that are part of GMCF
(00:46):
.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
That have executive directors.
So of the 20 that we have, nineof us are executive directors.
Good to know it's kind of neat.
Good to know it's neat.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Was the Patterson Family Foundation involved in
the creation of?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
this Of the eight of them.
So not my position, not yours,not my position, not yours, not
my position, because it's notconsidered a rural thing.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
No, Well, actually.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Armed Forces Community Foundation does
receive that Patterson grant.
But then since I'm also thedirector of Armed Forces
Community Foundation and so orI'm sorry I'm director of
military relations here at GMCFGotcha, so it's kind of a dual
role.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
So well, we have kind of a singular purpose for
discussion today, right, andthis is one that that really I
think is extremely important.
We do a lot of recognitionabout this in town, but probably
not enough.
You know, and I remember I wasat um, in this just little
background story, uh, uh, 4th ofJuly concert, manhattan
(01:51):
municipal band Um, they played,um, oh gosh, I can't remember
what it was, but anyway theywent into taps, but before, uh,
you know, that was amazing gracegoing into taps which is a
beautiful and uh in um, uh, oneof the directors wasn't Frank,
(02:12):
but but made the arrangement.
But one of the things that theyasked is that if there were any
gold star families there, andthere was uh one.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
And dedicated it to them, and that's what we're
going to be talking about today,because that is, you know, we
talk about, you know, someonewho's in the service that makes
the ultimate sacrifice, but thatultimate sacrifice is deeper
than just that one person's life, and that's why we have
established gold star families,right, and we might just Talk a
(02:44):
little bit about what a GoldStar family is.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Well, a Gold Star family is essentially the family
that has their family member,has given this ultimate
sacrifice through their servicefamilies, those spouses, those
sons, those daughters, thoseparents, with just keeping them,
(03:13):
keeping their family membersremembered.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, keep that legacy alive.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Keep that legacy alive, and so we were.
So we started a fund a year agoa little about a year and a
half ago, to help whenever theSociety of the First Infantry
Division was putting the nameson the First Infantry Division
Memorial in DC.
(03:41):
There were 631 names that wereput on that memorial in addition
to the ones that are alreadythere, and so the Gold Star
Family Fund was established sowe could help take those, take
Gold Star families from Kansasto see their family members name
on the memorial.
So we were able to do that lastyear with the help of, actually
(04:04):
, tyler Mason with SenatorMarshall's office.
Senator Marshall wanted to getthat done, so we started working
with him and then also with theMcCormick Foundation who was
able to help us fund that trip.
So with that we had a littlebit of extra money left over.
With growing it here at GMCF wewere able to raise enough money
(04:26):
to get a Gold Star familymonument put in at Victory Park
at Fort Riley Really, and so weare wanting to have that
memorial there for those GoldStar families.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
So all those 631, did you say, families will have
once again kind of a morelocalized More localized yeah.
Yeah, so, oh, that's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah, so we'll have this beautiful monument, with
Lynn Peterson out of Abilene ishelping us.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I've known Lynn for a long time.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yeah, so he's helping us and so it's a very nice,
just subtle.
It'll be kind of in the backpart, over by Lady Victory.
If you're familiar with thepark, it's up there by First
Division headquarters and it'stowards the back that Lady
Victory's.
Right there there will be abench so you can sit and you can
(05:25):
have some time over there benchso you can sit and you can, um,
you know, just have some timeover there, um, it's very simple
, which is, you know, just agood way to to express how, just
to have some time to sit andreflect.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I was going to say it sounds more like of a, more
like a reflection location.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, so, um, they have.
I think they just poured thefoundation up there and the
monument will be placed.
It will.
I want to just read what itwill have on there.
So on the front of it it'll betheir duty was to serve, Ours is
to remember.
So that would be theinscription on the front, with
(06:05):
the Gold Star family seal, andthen on the back it'll have all
the 1st Infantry Division losses.
So in World War I, there were5,516.
World War II, there was 4,325.
Vietnam, there was 3,079.
Desert Storm, there was 27.
(06:26):
Operation Iraqi Freedom in NewDon was 439.
And Operation Enduring Freedom,there's 192.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
That's not quite 20,000.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
That's a lot of names that's a lot of names, and so
this monument will be able tojust allow those families to sit
and reflect and have some time.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
How are those names going to be placed around that
monument?
They're not going to be.
Oh, they're not.
How are those names going to beplaced around that?
Speaker 2 (06:49):
They're not going to be the names aren't going to be
there, just those numbers willbe there and so those, those the
names, can be there on a withthe society and the first
infantry division monument in DC.
Those names are, you can findthose names there, but this is
just a general uh reflectionmonument yeah, so I suppose
(07:14):
there's some benches and somethings.
There's a bench there you cansit and there's a tree, a shade
tree, there, so it'll be reallynice.
So this is also um for goldstar families.
There is on fort Riley there'san organization called Survivor
Outreach Support and that's withFort Riley I think that's the
(07:37):
name of it SOS Okay, and you arewanting some services.
You could reach out to FortRiley Support Services and they
will be able to, you know, helpyou get some benefits.
There's some benefits that theycan help you receive.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
How many Gold Star families are there in Kansas?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I believe there's over 6,000, I believe, and of
course, Fort Riley.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
you know those lives.
Yes, those soldiers, they comefrom all over, not just the
nation, but there have beenothers that have taken up
residency and have served.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
So Gold Star families aren't just Army, they're Navy,
they're Marines, they're CoastGuard, they're all of the
services.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Air Force, air Force, that's another one.
Yeah, yes, air Force too, sothat's another one.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, yes, air Force too.
So it's all, it's everyone, andso this just gives an
opportunity for the soldiers ofthe 1st Infantry Division in
Fort Riley to be memorialized inVictory Park.
Yeah, so the other thing withthis, we will be having an
(08:54):
unveiling, and it'll be in theend of September.
It'll be September 26th at 1o'clock in Victory Park, and so
you'll hear more about thatcoming out.
If you look at the Armed ForcesCommunity Foundation website,
we'll have some informationabout it there.
Look at the Armed ForcesCommunity Foundation website,
(09:14):
we'll have some informationabout it there.
The day before, there will be amemorial service at Topeka, at
the Capitol at 10 o'clock, andthe KCVA Kansas Commission on
Veterans Affairs is doing thatevent.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I bet you have quite a long list of invitees that
will be a part of this.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Mm-hmm.
Well, so definitely at ours atFort Riley.
Senator Marshall will be there,of course, general Rohn will be
there, and local city we'veinvited the governor, so maybe
she'll be able to come with us,come out there and see our, our
monument as well a lot of thedignitaries you know around the
(09:57):
state and and and gold starfamilies, too, gold star
families too, you're gonna havequite a quite a crowd I hope so.
it's a beautiful monument, it'sreally pretty.
I've uh, tyler m and I, wedrove out to Kansas City, oh
about three weeks ago, and wewere able to look at it.
They haven't inscribed it yet,but we saw the monument, or the
(10:22):
stone.
It's pretty.
It's about five foot a littleover five feet tall, okay, so
it's really pretty.
So it's really pretty Now.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
You know we talked about you know you had some
funds there, but there still isan opportunity for people to
give to the Gold Star FamilySupport Fund and how can that be
done?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
That can be done through the Armed Forces
Community Foundation website.
You can reach out to me here atGMCF and I'd be glad to connect
you with on how to do thatthese funds are able to.
We work with Fort Riley.
There's some intricacies to dothat, but we help support some
of the activities that they dofor the Gold Star families.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
And, by the way, mcfksorg, you can find your way,
you can navigate around that toget to the fund as well.
Congratulations.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, thanks.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Hopefully I can make it over there.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
This is a great this was a great project.
It was very um, it was, uh,very touching to do this?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Oh, I can imagine so, and, as um you know and are,
are you considered gold starbecause that is someone that
lost her life in combat?
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Okay, yes, yes, so, so, still, by losing my spouse.
It was I.
I can understand the grief tosome degree, not not to the
intensity, but yeah, it's it's.
You know, anytime you lose afamily member, as you know.
So but, um, this, thishopefully gives these families a
(11:48):
time to be able to have a place, to come to Fort Riley and
reflect on that.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah, beautiful, christine Benny, thank you for
joining us, and don't go far.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I'm not going far.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Lori Rogge is going to be coming in.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, my other hat that I wear as the affiliate
liaison for Rural Riley CountyCommunity Foundation.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
And we'll have Lori come in and joining us here in
the next segment of the GMCFCommunity Hour.
We do this every Monday morningat 10.
You can always find out moreabout the work that the
foundation is doing on ourwebsite, mcfksorg, and also
follow us on social mediaFacebook and Instagram and I
don't know what all Felix hasgot his hands in, but there's
more.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
You can find us.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
We're easy to be found.
Yes, no-transcript.
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater
Manhattan Community Foundation.
In this episode we feature arecently broadcast segment of
the GMCF Community Hour, asheard on NewsRadio KMAN.
Back with the GMCF CommunityHour.
My name is Dave Lewis.
Christine Benny is the GMCFDirector of Military Relations.
(00:21):
Is that a new title?
Is that changed?
Military Relations Is that anew title?
Is that changed?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
It's a new title.
It's the same position, but anew title.
Okay, and that means you domore.
Oh, I always do a lot.
Oh I know that, but you'redoing more, I am doing more.
So that puts me in line withKrista that was in here.
So I'm one of the nineaffiliates that are part of GMCF
(00:46):
.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
That have executive directors.
So of the 20 that we have, nineof us are executive directors.
Good to know it's kind of neat.
Good to know it's neat.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Was the Patterson Family Foundation involved in
the creation of?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
this Of the eight of them.
So not my position, not yours,not my position, not yours, not
my position, because it's notconsidered a rural thing.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
No, Well, actually.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Armed Forces Community Foundation does
receive that Patterson grant.
But then since I'm also thedirector of Armed Forces
Community Foundation and so orI'm sorry I'm director of
military relations here at GMCFGotcha, so it's kind of a dual
role.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
So well, we have kind of a singular purpose for
discussion today, right, andthis is one that that really I
think is extremely important.
We do a lot of recognitionabout this in town, but probably
not enough.
You know, and I remember I wasat um, in this just little
background story, uh, uh, 4th ofJuly concert, manhattan
(01:51):
municipal band Um, they played,um, oh gosh, I can't remember
what it was, but anyway theywent into taps, but before, uh,
you know, that was amazing gracegoing into taps which is a
beautiful and uh in um, uh, oneof the directors wasn't Frank,
(02:12):
but but made the arrangement.
But one of the things that theyasked is that if there were any
gold star families there, andthere was uh one.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
And dedicated it to them, and that's what we're
going to be talking about today,because that is, you know, we
talk about, you know, someonewho's in the service that makes
the ultimate sacrifice, but thatultimate sacrifice is deeper
than just that one person's life, and that's why we have
established gold star families,right, and we might just Talk a
(02:44):
little bit about what a GoldStar family is.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Well, a Gold Star family is essentially the family
that has their family member,has given this ultimate
sacrifice through their servicefamilies, those spouses, those
sons, those daughters, thoseparents, with just keeping them,
(03:13):
keeping their family membersremembered.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, keep that legacy alive.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Keep that legacy alive, and so we were.
So we started a fund a year agoa little about a year and a
half ago, to help whenever theSociety of the First Infantry
Division was putting the nameson the First Infantry Division
Memorial in DC.
(03:41):
There were 631 names that wereput on that memorial in addition
to the ones that are alreadythere, and so the Gold Star
Family Fund was established sowe could help take those, take
Gold Star families from Kansasto see their family members name
on the memorial.
So we were able to do that lastyear with the help of, actually
(04:04):
, tyler Mason with SenatorMarshall's office.
Senator Marshall wanted to getthat done, so we started working
with him and then also with theMcCormick Foundation who was
able to help us fund that trip.
So with that we had a littlebit of extra money left over.
With growing it here at GMCF wewere able to raise enough money
(04:26):
to get a Gold Star familymonument put in at Victory Park
at Fort Riley Really, and so weare wanting to have that
memorial there for those GoldStar families.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
So all those 631, did you say, families will have
once again kind of a morelocalized More localized yeah.
Yeah, so, oh, that's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah, so we'll have this beautiful monument, with
Lynn Peterson out of Abilene ishelping us.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I've known Lynn for a long time.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yeah, so he's helping us and so it's a very nice,
just subtle.
It'll be kind of in the backpart, over by Lady Victory.
If you're familiar with thepark, it's up there by First
Division headquarters and it'stowards the back that Lady
Victory's.
Right there there will be abench so you can sit and you can
(05:25):
have some time over there benchso you can sit and you can, um,
you know, just have some timeover there, um, it's very simple
, which is, you know, just agood way to to express how, just
to have some time to sit andreflect.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I was going to say it sounds more like of a, more
like a reflection location.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, so, um, they have.
I think they just poured thefoundation up there and the
monument will be placed.
It will.
I want to just read what itwill have on there.
So on the front of it it'll betheir duty was to serve, Ours is
to remember.
So that would be theinscription on the front, with
(06:05):
the Gold Star family seal, andthen on the back it'll have all
the 1st Infantry Division losses.
So in World War I, there were5,516.
World War II, there was 4,325.
Vietnam, there was 3,079.
Desert Storm, there was 27.
(06:26):
Operation Iraqi Freedom in NewDon was 439.
And Operation Enduring Freedom,there's 192.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
That's not quite 20,000.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
That's a lot of names that's a lot of names, and so
this monument will be able tojust allow those families to sit
and reflect and have some time.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
How are those names going to be placed around that
monument?
They're not going to be.
Oh, they're not.
How are those names going to beplaced around that?
Speaker 2 (06:49):
They're not going to be the names aren't going to be
there, just those numbers willbe there and so those, those the
names, can be there on a withthe society and the first
infantry division monument in DC.
Those names are, you can findthose names there, but this is
just a general uh reflectionmonument yeah, so I suppose
(07:14):
there's some benches and somethings.
There's a bench there you cansit and there's a tree, a shade
tree, there, so it'll be reallynice.
So this is also um for goldstar families.
There is on fort Riley there'san organization called Survivor
Outreach Support and that's withFort Riley I think that's the
(07:37):
name of it SOS Okay, and you arewanting some services.
You could reach out to FortRiley Support Services and they
will be able to, you know, helpyou get some benefits.
There's some benefits that theycan help you receive.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
How many Gold Star families are there in Kansas?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I believe there's over 6,000, I believe, and of
course, Fort Riley.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
you know those lives.
Yes, those soldiers, they comefrom all over, not just the
nation, but there have beenothers that have taken up
residency and have served.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
So Gold Star families aren't just Army, they're Navy,
they're Marines, they're CoastGuard, they're all of the
services.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Air Force, air Force, that's another one.
Yeah, yes, air Force too, sothat's another one.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, yes, air Force too.
So it's all, it's everyone, andso this just gives an
opportunity for the soldiers ofthe 1st Infantry Division in
Fort Riley to be memorialized inVictory Park.
Yeah, so the other thing withthis, we will be having an
(08:54):
unveiling, and it'll be in theend of September.
It'll be September 26th at 1o'clock in Victory Park, and so
you'll hear more about thatcoming out.
If you look at the Armed ForcesCommunity Foundation website,
we'll have some informationabout it there.
Look at the Armed ForcesCommunity Foundation website,
(09:14):
we'll have some informationabout it there.
The day before, there will be amemorial service at Topeka, at
the Capitol at 10 o'clock, andthe KCVA Kansas Commission on
Veterans Affairs is doing thatevent.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I bet you have quite a long list of invitees that
will be a part of this.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Mm-hmm.
Well, so definitely at ours atFort Riley.
Senator Marshall will be there,of course, general Rohn will be
there, and local city we'veinvited the governor, so maybe
she'll be able to come with us,come out there and see our, our
monument as well a lot of thedignitaries you know around the
(09:57):
state and and and gold starfamilies, too, gold star
families too, you're gonna havequite a quite a crowd I hope so.
it's a beautiful monument, it'sreally pretty.
I've uh, tyler m and I, wedrove out to Kansas City, oh
about three weeks ago, and wewere able to look at it.
They haven't inscribed it yet,but we saw the monument, or the
(10:22):
stone.
It's pretty.
It's about five foot a littleover five feet tall, okay, so
it's really pretty.
So it's really pretty Now.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
You know we talked about you know you had some
funds there, but there still isan opportunity for people to
give to the Gold Star FamilySupport Fund and how can that be
done?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
That can be done through the Armed Forces
Community Foundation website.
You can reach out to me here atGMCF and I'd be glad to connect
you with on how to do thatthese funds are able to.
We work with Fort Riley.
There's some intricacies to dothat, but we help support some
of the activities that they dofor the Gold Star families.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
And, by the way, mcfksorg, you can find your way,
you can navigate around that toget to the fund as well.
Congratulations.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, thanks.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Hopefully I can make it over there.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
This is a great this was a great project.
It was very um, it was, uh,very touching to do this?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Oh, I can imagine so, and, as um you know and are,
are you considered gold starbecause that is someone that
lost her life in combat?
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Okay, yes, yes, so, so, still, by losing my spouse.
It was I.
I can understand the grief tosome degree, not not to the
intensity, but yeah, it's it's.
You know, anytime you lose afamily member, as you know.
So but, um, this, thishopefully gives these families a
(11:48):
time to be able to have a place, to come to Fort Riley and
reflect on that.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah, beautiful, christine Benny, thank you for
joining us, and don't go far.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I'm not going far.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Lori Rogge is going to be coming in.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, my other hat that I wear as the affiliate
liaison for Rural Riley CountyCommunity Foundation.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
And we'll have Lori come in and joining us here in
the next segment of the GMCFCommunity Hour.
We do this every Monday morningat 10.
You can always find out moreabout the work that the
foundation is doing on ourwebsite, mcfksorg, and also
follow us on social mediaFacebook and Instagram and I
don't know what all Felix hasgot his hands in, but there's
more.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
You can find us.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
We're easy to be found.
Yes, no-transcript.
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