Bobby Bowden helps honor Blue Star Mother

31 Oct 2002 | Marine Corps Recruiting Command

Imagine your mother standing on the 50-yard line of one of Florida's biggest high school football games.  She is being honored for the courage and support she has given to one of her children who has joined the military and the crowd of more than 4,000 spectators offers up an overwhelming round of applause.
Moments before the Lincoln Trojans kicked off to the North Florida Christian Eagles, Dana Leigh Beasley was presented with a certificate of appreciation and a Blue Star banner for not only putting one son in the United States Marine Corps, but two of her four children.

The Blue Star Service Flag is an official banner authorized by the Department of Defense for display by families who have members serving in the Armed Forces during any period of war or hostilities the United States may be engaged in for the duration of such hostilities.

During the ongoing war against terror, Dana's eldest son, Cpl. Josh Beasley, a 2000 graduate of Lincoln High School, is currently in a special operations reconnaissance unit in West Palm, Fla.  Her second son, William Beasley, a 2002 graduate of Lincoln, is currently striving to earn the Eagle, Globe and Anchor and the title United States Marine. He has just entered his sixth week of basic training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, S.C.
"I've never been more proud as a mother," Beasley said. "Now we will have to work on getting my next son in!"

Bobby Bowden, head football coach, Florida State University, was one of the 4,000 on hand who joined the applause for Dana and all of America's parents as both a viewer and on a more personal level.  Bowden's grandson just claimed the title ?U.S. Marine? at MCRD Parris Island recently.

Marine Corps Recruiting Command