Gold Star Mother reflects on Miami VAMC named after her son

‘We’ll never forget them, so we don’t want you to forget them.’

At 95, Gold Star Mother Georgie Carter-Krell still reports to the front desk of the Bruce W. Carter VA Medical Center in Miami, helping Veterans find their appointments and joking that the job lets her tell men where to go.

After nearly four decades and tens of thousands of volunteer hours, Carter-Krell is the welcoming face of the medical center that bears her son’s name. On her days off, Veterans ask where she is if she isn’t there to greet them.

The grief of losing a child

A Gold Star Family is the immediate family of a service member who died while serving. Carter-Krell is a Gold Star Mother; her son, Marine Pfc. Bruce W. Carter, was killed in Vietnam at age 19 after throwing himself on a grenade to save his fellow Marines, an act for which he posthumously received the Medal of Honor. He was buried in 1969, on Aug. 25.

On Carter-Krell’s birthday.

“I remember being in the limousine. I said to my husband, ‘Today’s my birthday.’ And he said, ‘Yes, honey.’ And I said, ‘Oh, damn. I’ll never forget this for the rest of my life,’” she shared.

Before her son’s death, Carter-Krell worked in insurance, and the family spent weekends together boating and fishing. After losing Bruce, she learned about and avoided joining the Gold Star Mothers. She still had a job and two daughters who needed her. Eventually, she was drawn back to the work of those who preserve their fallen children’s memories.

“They’re not just dead and gone. They are our sons. We’ll never forget them, so we don’t want you to forget them,” she said.

Carter-Krell would eventually serve as the organization’s national president.

“I never would have figured myself to (have become) who I am now. I wouldn’t recognize me,” she admitted.

When Carter-Krell began volunteering at Miami VA, she worked with Veterans in a nursing home unit. She wrote letters, cleaned laundry, cut hair and helped wherever she could. She organized with other Gold Star Mothers, forming a volunteer group called the “Silver Spooners.” Wearing small silver spoons, they helped Veterans in the dining room with everything from opening condiment packets to arranging meals and feeding those who needed assistance.

Decades later, she has lost count of how many volunteer hours she’s given as the total matters less to her than continuing to show up to do the work.

‘The whole damn hospital’

When someone once suggested naming part of the hospital for Bruce, Carter-Krell decided she wanted more for him: “I wanted the whole damn hospital.”

With political support, she helped secure the 2008 naming of the Miami VA Medical Center for Bruce. And years later, the facility honored Carter-Krell’s service to Veterans by naming its lobby in her honor.

Another quest

When her daughter asked her why her brother wasn’t buried in Arlington National Cemetery, it dawned on Carter-Krell that her son belonged in the nation’s most hallowed ground alongside his fellow heroes. With family and supporters, she launched a “Send Bruce Home” effort. Six years ago, his remains were reinterred at Arlington with full military honors.

More to do

Today, Carter-Krell volunteers one or two days a week. Veterans stop at the front desk to talk with her, ask about Bruce or tell her they knew him, attended school with him or served where he was killed. Some days leave her tired, but she continues to show up to the building that carries her son’s name.

“There’s so much that I still want to do,” she shared.