Grieving Gold Star Mother Statue

Manchester, New Hampshire

Gold Star Mothers -- the moms of soldiers killed in war -- have been around as an organization since 1918. Gold Star Mother memorials -- stones with attached plaques -- have been around since the 1930s. This memorial, erected in 2011, is very different; it's a life-size bronze statue that shows a World War II mother in shock, a single tear on her cheek. One hand braces herself against an unsteady flower stand, clutching a crumpled telegram.

This is the second of six identical grieving Gold Star Mother statues that sculptor Andrew Chernak hopes to erect across the U.S. He made her a World War II mom because that particular war created the most Gold Star Mothers, and rejected an even more melodramatic design of a mother collapsed on a front porch in tears.