“It's definitely been a long wait, and I'm just ecstatic to finally put that on my truck and finally just have this done.”
Adam DeMarsico is a former resident of Massachusetts, where he had a Gold Star family plate, in honor of his brother, Army Specialist Michael DeMarsico, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2012. But when DeMarsico moved to Cohoes, there was no option for him to get a Gold Star Family plate through the New York Department of Vehicles.
DeMarsico approached State Senator Jake Ashby, who worked with Assemblymember John McDonald, to make the Gold Star Family plate available to any immediate family member of soldiers who lost their lives in the line of duty.
Ashby said the plate was a way to honor the sacrifice soldiers make for the country.
“I think this is very important for really every citizen in the United States, because the country that we live in today was really born through the sacrifices of those who gave everything for us, and this is just a small way for the manifestation of that memory,” he said.
Ashby said many supporters, along with DeMarsico, contributed to the campaign.
“A lot of veterans from around the area, from American Legions to VFWs to those who just independently supported it, signed petitions, wrote [the] DMV," he said. "DMV had moved pretty quickly for a bureaucratic office in the state of New York, and we're very grateful for that. So it was truly a team effort.”
New York State has had the option to apply for a Gold Star Mother plate since 1991, but has not had that option available to siblings, fathers, or children. Carrie Farley, a Gold Star Mother, who is the President of the Albany Chapter of the American Gold Star Mothers, said that the loss of family members of soldiers deserves to be recognized by the state.
“I have a Gold Star Mother plate, and I'm proud to show that," she said. "It takes a family to raise a soldier. It takes a family to grieve a soldier. A father deserves a plate. A sibling deserves a plate. A spouse, a child of a lost soldier, deserves to have that plate.”
Farley said she hoped the plate would be made more affordable for families who are grieving. Farley’s son, Staff Sergeant Derek John Farley was killed in 2010.
“Many years later, 15 years later, I have found strength with the mothers, an organization that has been around since World War I," she said. "And we do these things, we support each other. It's like no other to be with someone that has lost a child.”
DeMarsico remembered his brother fondly, and said that he was dedicated to his country.
“My brother was an outgoing guy," he said. "After 9/11 happened, I think we were like nine, and my brother always said since that day that he was going to go serve his country, and this is what he wanted to do, and he was going to go to war, and that was the life that he chose. And we didn't really believe it at first, until he actually did go. And he came home for Christmas, and unfortunately, that was the last time we saw him.”
DeMarsico finally has a New York-issued Gold Star family license plate after two years of working toward it.
“It's just a way to remember my brother," he said. "He's not with us, to travel with me, but with a gold star license plate, it feels like he's still with me. So wherever I go, I just, I feel safe.”
