HAMPSTEAD — A small basket of gold stars and a pen sit on a table beside framed color photographs of Matthew Bertolino.
Bertolino died Feb. 9, 2006, on a combat patrol near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. He was 20.
This month, his mother, Joyce, and other Blue Star and Gold Star mothers will spend countless hours writing his name and the names of other soldiers on gold, blue and black stars.
The gold stars pay tribute to fallen soldiers. The blue stars are for the soldiers on active duty, and the black stars are for prisoners of war and those missing in action.
Ultimately, hundreds of stars, with names of U.S. soldiers, will adorn the Hampstead Hero Tree. The tree will stand inside Town Hall during the holiday season as a tribute to soldiers from their families and the community.
"I would do anything for my son," Bertolino said, her voice breaking. "I hope everyone in Hampstead will stop by and spend a moment to honor the soldiers."
So far, Hampstead is the only local community to sign up for the Hero Tree project, which is organized by the Blue Star Mothers of New Hampshire.
Two years ago, Pelham Gold Star mother Denise Gionet organized a holiday tree tribute to her son Daniel and other soldiers. The stars were hung on an evergreen tree on Main Street.
Karen Thurston of Gilford, president of Blue Star Mothers of New Hampshire, said the Hero Tree tradition is 3 years old.
"It started with a single tree in Laconia in the National Guard recruiting office," she said.
Although the tree has always included names of soldiers from all parts of the country, this year, the New Hampshire names predominate.
Arline Grant, spokeswoman for Hampstead's Patriotic Purposes Committee, did not have the date when the Hampstead tree would be ready, but expects it will be up soon. Selectmen previously voted to go ahead with the project.
The Gold Star and Blue Star mothers work from a computer list of soldiers' names, requested by their families or by service organizations, Bertolino said.
"Last year, the Gold Star mothers in Florida asked us to remember their soldiers on our tree and we did," Bertolino said.
The public can write a soldier's name on a star, too, Bertolino said. People will find a basket under the tree with a pen and blank stars. There's no charge to add a star to the tree, Bertolino said.
Last year, 600 stars decorated the boughs of Hampstead's Hero Tree, she said.
"I just think it keeps the memory alive of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice," she said.
The tree also keeps people thinking about the soldiers still fighting, she said.
