Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Illinois honors the military men and women who made the supreme sacrifice — as well as the loved ones they’ve left behind — with the Gold Star Christmas tree.

Illinois National Guard Adjutant Gen. Rodney Boyd and Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs director Terry Prince led the tree-lighting ceremony Monday at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, where you can see the tree in the gateway, just inside the main doors, this holiday season.

There’s an ornament for each Gold Star soldier, sailor, Marine, and airman. “We gather around this tree in the quiet of winter to hold each ornament, say the names that we lost, and proudly display the ornament for others to see,” Prince said during the ceremony.

“This is the only Gold Star ceremony where every Illinois Gold Star hero is personally acknowledged.”

Gay Eisenhauer (pictured) of Pinckneyville buried her 26-year-old son, Wyatt, on Memorial Day twenty years ago.

“Someone can come up, and they can see that ornament,” said Eisenhauer. “Then they go back and look up the name, and then they’ll write you a note and say that they saw the tree and saw your son, and they know his story.”