'The cost of freedom': Gold Star family reflects on Memorial Day

Updated: 11:08 AM EDT May 31, 2021

On Memorial Day we take time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. The freedoms we enjoy come at a cost, and for one South Louisiana family, that message is a daily reminder of their loss."The insignia on that is for the 5th Marine and amphibious corps, and it's got an alligator," Kaanan Fugler says to her son, Aiden, while touring the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.Fugler's family knows firsthand the true meaning of Memorial Day."My first memory of the blur after he passed away was telling my children in a small room in the hospital that their daddy wasn't coming home," Fugler said.Fugler's husband, Staff Sgt. Matthew Mackey, served our country in both the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army for nearly two decades. Around the Fourth of July in 2010, Matthew was in a serious motor vehicle wreck while on active duty. He spent weeks in the hospital, but ultimately lost his life, leaving behind his wife and five children. "It's painful and frustrating to know that I won't grow up with him in my life," son Aiden said. Fugler added, "For us, Memorial Day is every day. And on Memorial Day, we like to make sure that we're remembering everybody else, his brothers and sisters. It was important to Matt, the brotherhood he had through his service."In New Orleans, the National World War II Museum preserves the history of that brotherhood. "Almost half a million American men and women lost their lives in World War II, and many of them left behind wives and children, brothers and sisters, and those individuals were affected for the rest of their lives," Tom Czekanski, senior curator and restoration manager of the National World War II Museum said.To keep Matthew's legacy alive, the family started visiting his gravesite annually, and also found a way to pay tribute to others we've lost. "Went and bought all the flags we had in the area, and took my kids out there, and we walked around to veterans' headstones, and we placed flags, and then from that teaching moment, we went and did that the next year and the next year," Fugler said.That tradition continues this Memorial Day. As a Gold Star matriarch, Fugler keeps her family's focus on gratitude and honor."We are some of the most resilient people, and have been through and know the cost of freedom, and know that everything that we take for granted every day, they made sure that we could."

NEW ORLEANS —

On Memorial Day we take time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. The freedoms we enjoy come at a cost, and for one South Louisiana family, that message is a daily reminder of their loss.

Chad Sabadie - WDSU

"The insignia on that is for the 5th Marine and amphibious corps, and it's got an alligator," Kaanan Fugler says to her son, Aiden, while touring the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.

Fugler's family knows firsthand the true meaning of Memorial Day.

"My first memory of the blur after he passed away was telling my children in a small room in the hospital that their daddy wasn't coming home," Fugler said.

Fugler's husband, Staff Sgt. Matthew Mackey, served our country in both the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army for nearly two decades.

Around the Fourth of July in 2010, Matthew was in a serious motor vehicle wreck while on active duty. He spent weeks in the hospital, but ultimately lost his life, leaving behind his wife and five children.

"It's painful and frustrating to know that I won't grow up with him in my life," son Aiden said.

Fugler added, "For us, Memorial Day is every day. And on Memorial Day, we like to make sure that we're remembering everybody else, his brothers and sisters. It was important to Matt, the brotherhood he had through his service."

In New Orleans, the National World War II Museum preserves the history of that brotherhood.

"Almost half a million American men and women lost their lives in World War II, and many of them left behind wives and children, brothers and sisters, and those individuals were affected for the rest of their lives," Tom Czekanski, senior curator and restoration manager of the National World War II Museum said.

To keep Matthew's legacy alive, the family started visiting his gravesite annually, and also found a way to pay tribute to others we've lost.

"Went and bought all the flags we had in the area, and took my kids out there, and we walked around to veterans' headstones, and we placed flags, and then from that teaching moment, we went and did that the next year and the next year," Fugler said.

That tradition continues this Memorial Day. As a Gold Star matriarch, Fugler keeps her family's focus on gratitude and honor.

"We are some of the most resilient people, and have been through and know the cost of freedom, and know that everything that we take for granted every day, they made sure that we could."