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GREENSBORO -- When Iraci Rocha saw the face of her son appear above the crowd at the Westover Church, she wished that she could touch it.

But like all the young men and women honored at Sunday's Blue Star Mothers memorial, Cpl. Felipe Barbosa was killed in action. It's a source of sorrow for Rocha and her family, who live in Greensboro. But they are also proud of how he lived - and ultimately gave - his life.

"It is hard," Rocha said after the service. "The war in Iraq began on his birthday, he died on his brother's birthday and they brought him back home on my birthday."

With tears welling in her eyes, she shook away the memory and smiled.

"But we are always proud of him," she said. "It is something to be proud of. And a beautiful ceremony like this - it is so wonderful to know our sons were not forgotten."

Barbosa was one of two dozen North Carolina troops whose families were given gold stars by the group to honor their sacrifice. Members of veteran biker groups Rolling Thunder and Patriot Guard were on hand to help with the service, which drew about 200 people. Among them were guest speakers Sen. Elizabeth Dole, U.S. Rep. Howard Coble and state Sen. Kay Hagan, who is challenging Dole for her Senate seat.

Dole told the crowd her husband, former U.S. senator and World War II veteran Bob Dole, was recently asked what it was like to be part of "The Greatest Generation."

"And he said, 'No, no,'" Dole said. "'The young men and women being deployed today, they are the greatest generation.'"

Dole said the young men whose faces flickered across the large, flat-screen monitors above the crowd were proof of that.

"We live in freedom because so many of our men and women have understood that freedom is not free," Dole said. "Across every generation, brave Americans have protected the freedom we all hold so dear."

Coble, a Coast Guard veteran, told the crowd about once meeting a young man in Jerusalem who had been a prisoner in Soviet Russia. The man said that he was having trouble adjusting to freedom.

"I told him 'Many Americans don't handle freedom very well either,'" Coble told the crowd. "We're too causal about it, because we've never known what it means not to be free. But we owe that freedom to your sons and daughters."

Hagan, the aunt of two active-duty service members, said she couldn't begin to imagine the sorrow and loss of families who lose their children in war. With one nephew serving as a fighter pilot and the other a Navy SEAL, Hagan said she was inspired by their strength.

"Your child, your son or daughter did not give their life to our country in vain," Hagan said. "They will never be forgotten."

Gathering with other mothers after the service, Rocha said it was good to be surrounded by people who were all having the same experience.

"It is so hard to share this," Rocha said. "But to have the support of this whole community and to meet all of these other people, it is a blessing."

Contact Joe Killian at 883-4422, Ext. 228, or joe.killian@news-record.com