My last story was about a new bill that would give new benefits to Gold Star parents. Gold Star parents are parents who’ve lost a child while serving our country. The original bill stated that in order for Gold Star parents to benefit from state run VA nursing homes-they’d have to have lost all their children in service. But the new bill would change the law-so parents who lose only one child in combat would qualify as well. It’s a simple change and one that has met no opposition while trying to be passed.
In order to do the story, we had to find parents who would be affected by this change. That was the hardest part-locating Gold Star parents who’d be willing to talk to us. We finally found James and Carolyn Duffy.
They were extremely friendly and genuine people who opened their home to us for the interview. We had to talk about the death of their son and it was probably one of the hardest interviews (to date) I’ve had to do. But as a reporter there will be times the interviews are going to be tough-especially those that involve a loss.
As the Duffys told us about their son, they started crying and it was hard for us to not feel for them. No parent should have to bury their child and it must have been an extremely trying time for them. It was hard not to tear up as they were crying to us about the pain they had after losing their youngest son.
We had to ask the hard questions, prying into their private lives and even though it was a tough interview-they were inspiring people. The Duffys have been through a lot in their lives and burying a son is probably one of the hardest things for any parent. But we were glad they were willing to share their story with us and all of our viewers. They are people I'll never forget and their story will be a part of me for a long time.
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