After you pass through the second set of doors in the Memorial Union, the dimly lit Gold Star Hall greets you. Etched into the limestone walls are 590 names of soldiers who attended Iowa State and died serving their country during war.

The throng of people passing through the hall stop to stare at the engraved names under the titles: WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, USS Liberty, Somalia and War on Terrorism: Afghanistan and Iraq.

Visitors take photos and gaze at the 12 stained glass windows, which depict the virtues: Learning, Virility, Courage, Patriotism, Justice, Faith, Determination, Love, Obedience, Loyalty, Integrity and Tolerance.

A student points to a WWII name and tells her friends that it is her grandfather. “My dad told me it was here,” she says. 

The hallway is a memorial to those who fought and died for our freedom.  Above the entrance doors is a quotation to honor them:

“A memorial to the six thousand Iowa State College men and women who offered their lives during the World War in the cause of human liberty and free government.”

The name of the hall comes from the wartime tradition of placing a blue star in a window while your son or daughter was away at war.  If a life was lost, the blue star would be replaced with a gold star.

In the hallway above the American and the Iowan flag, there is also a quotation by the poet, John Drinkwater:

“For Thee they died

Master and Maker, God of Right

The Soldier dead are at Thy gate

Who kept the spears of honor bright

And Freedom’s house inviolate.”

The hall is a representation of the entire Memorial Union and what the building signifies. The Memorial Union also houses the Col. Pride Veterans’ Lounge, which contains military books, flags of each military branch, medals awarded to personnel listed at the Gold Star Hall and a sculpture by Christian Petersen called “Men of Two Wars.”

The Gold Star Hall’s creators intended that we would never forget.