BLOOMINGTON ( 25News Now ) - For some military families, the airport is the last place where they see their loved ones. That’s why America’s Gold Star Families is putting up Christmas trees at the Central Illinois Regional Airport.

A Gold Star family is one who has lost a loved one in military service.

Bloomington started out with one tree several years ago, but there were so many requests for ornaments honoring fallen soldiers, that a second tree was added. 500 ornaments were hung on the two trees.

Sherri Frederick put up one of the ornaments. She was at CIRA Monday evening to remember her brother Larry, who died in combat in 1967 while deployed in Vietnam. Frederick is proud that her brother volunteered for the war, even though there was a draft underway.

Frederick wishes more peop

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