Katherine M. Mannion, former national president of the Gold Star Mothers who worked tirelessly to preserve the memory of Vietnam War veterans and those who lost their lives in the conflict, died Sunday of a stroke at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air. She was 87.
The lives of Mrs. Mannion, a Belair-Edison homemaker, and her husband, a Baltimore fire captain, were changed by a knock on the door of their brick Elmley Avenue rowhouse early on a December morning in 1966.
Their son, August G. "Todd" Mannion Jr., a star baseball player at Calvert Hall College High School and Baltimore Junior College, had been drafted and was serving with the Army in Vietnam. He had volunteered to accompany a truck convoy to Pleiku, and on Dec. 20, the convoy was ambushed by Viet Cong forces. Out of 35 men, 19 were killed, including their son.
"They came around 7:20 on the morning of Dec. 21," recalled Mrs. Mannion in a 1983 interview with the Sun Magazine. Standing at her door was an Army sergeant bringing the news that her son had been killed, seven days before his 21st birthday.
"He just stood there. I didn't know whether I should comfort him, or he should comfort me. It turned out that it was the first time he had ever had to tell a parent that a son had been killed in action," she said.
Her son, whose body returned home on what would have been his birthday, posthumously received the Bronze Star with a "V" for valor and a Purple Heart. He was interred at Holy Redeemer Cemetery on New Year's Eve.
"We'll never get over it. He was our only boy," Mrs. Mannion told The Evening Sun in 1967.
To help her cope with her grief and loss, Mrs. Mannion joined Gold Star Mothers, a national organization founded in 1928 for mothers whose sons had been killed at war; it later included those who lost daughters. The organization offers emotional support for its members and volunteers in veteran hospitals and with other service organizations.
She served as national president from 1980 to 1981, six times as president of its Maryland-Delaware department, and as president of Gold Star Mothers of Baltimore for many years.
From 1967 until her death, she wore the gold star that symbolizes the loss.
She was also active in and an honorary member of Vietnam Veterans of America, Baltimore Chapter No. 451.
In 1980, she and her husband participated in groundbreaking ceremonies for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.
"Katherine was tireless in her work with Gold Star Mothers. She worked very hard to keep the Baltimore chapter alive as our members are getting older," said Jean K. Penfold, also a past national president.
"She brought a lot to the organization and was well liked. She was a very vibrant person who got to know personally many of our members, which of course numbered in the thousands," said Emogene M. Cupp, who preceded Mrs. Mannion as national president.
"It became her life's work. My mother converted her life's tragedy into something that helped others," said her daughter, Judith M. Hess of Forest Hill.
David DeChant, a Marine combat veteran of Vietnam, became acquainted with Mrs. Mannion when he came to Baltimore in the 1980s to serve with the Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program.
"We worked together to redress grievances of Vietnam veterans and to build a memorial. She had a deep commitment to her country and to the families who lost sons like she did," said Mr. DeChant, a resident of Sykesville. "She kept the faith. She's truly a national figure who not only reached out to Vietnam veterans but also Korean War and World War II veterans."
Born and raised in Baltimore, Katherine M. Peters was a graduate of Western High School.
She married August G. Mannion in 1937. He died in 1993.
Mrs. Mannion was a longtime volunteer and communicant of the Shrine of the Little Flower Roman Catholic Church, 3500 Belair Road, where a Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. today.
Mrs. Mannion is survived by her daughter and a granddaughter.
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