Fallen Tree of Honor on display at Peoria Riverfront Museum

PEORIA (25News Now) - The Fallen Tree of Honor is officially on display at the Peoria Riverfront Museum after a ceremony on Saturday.

This is the eighth year that America’s Gold Star Families has chosen the museum as one of the three public venues throughout Central Illinois to display a tree as a dedication to our nation’s fallen heroes.

There are also trees in Decatur and Bloomington.

At Saturday’s dedication ceremony at the Riverfront Museum, more than 400 ornaments were hung on the tree, representing fallen soldiers from 37 states.

More than a dozen Gold Star families from this area were in attendance to put their hero’s ornament on the tree.

“We have tried to put the same ornaments on in each of the cities. Here, we have photographs of the fallen heroes on many of them,” said Chris Doscotch, a veteran and a board member of America’s Gold Star Families. “In Decatur and Bloomington, we have the names along with their service branch and their birthday and the dates that they passed. So it’s the same heroes, just in a different location.”

All three of Fallen Heroes Trees of Honor will remain on display until January.