Behind every military member, veteran, or first responder lost to suicide is a family forever changed. Red Star Foundation exists to ensure these Forgotten Families receive the hope, recognition, and connection they deserve.
Who Are the Forgotten Families?
The Forgotten Families are the spouses, parents, children, siblings, friends, and loved ones left behind when a military member, veteran, or first responder dies by suicide.
These families often experience grief compounded by unanswered questions, social stigma, isolation, and difficulty finding people who understand their loss.
Red Star Foundation calls them Red Star Families: a community connected not only by loss, but by love, remembrance, resilience, and the determination that no surviving family should be forgotten. Learn more about support for Red Star Families, or find financial and family assistance resources.
The impact
The Hidden Impact of Military and Veteran Suicide on Families
A suicide does not affect one life alone. It creates a lasting impact on spouses, children, parents, siblings, friends, fellow service members, and entire communities.
Complicated grief
Grief after suicide is often tangled with guilt, anger, and questions that may never be answered.
Stigma and isolation
Lingering stigma around mental health and suicide can make families feel unable to speak about their loss.
Financial and household disruption
The loss of a partner or parent can change income, housing, and daily routines almost overnight.
Surviving children
Children may struggle to understand what happened and need patient, age-appropriate support over many years.
Loss of community and identity
Families can lose the unit, station, or base community that once surrounded them.
Hard-to-find support
Many families do not know where to turn, or cannot find people who understand this kind of loss.
What the numbers show
According to the VA 2026 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, 6,488 veterans died by suicide in 2024, an average of 17.7 per day. That is the VA’s official count. Each of those deaths left behind a family.
A broader estimate from America’s Warrior Partnership, Operation Deep Dive adds self-injury deaths and reports at least 44 veteran deaths per day. It uses a different method and is not an official VA count, so the two figures should not be added together. For suicide across the general population, see the CDC suicide prevention data. Read more on our veteran suicide statistics page.
Because every suicide reaches far beyond one person, the needs of surviving families belong in the national response to military, veteran, and first responder suicide, alongside prevention.
Why Surviving Families Deserve National Recognition
Families grieving a suicide should not be defined by stigma or silence. Their loved ones’ service, sacrifice, and contributions to our country and communities deserve to be remembered. National recognition can:
- Honor the individual who died.
- Acknowledge the families who carry their memory.
- Encourage compassionate conversations about suicide loss.
- Reduce the isolation many families feel.
- Build awareness of support and prevention resources.
The Red Star Service Banner: A Symbol of Hope, Recognition, and Connection
The Red Star Service Banner honors military personnel, veterans, and first responders lost to suicide, and the families who loved them. Displayed in a window, it tells a community that this family is seen, honored, and connected to a larger Red Star Family.
The banner is a Red Star Foundation recognition. It has not received federal designation; the Red Star Service Banner Act (H.R. 7815) is pending in Congress.
How we help
How Red Star Foundation Supports the Forgotten Families
Peer-to-Peer Support and Connection
Talking with someone who has lived through a similar loss can ease isolation and bring a kind of understanding that is hard to find elsewhere. Our Peer-to-Peer Network connects surviving families with one another.
Red Star Voices: Stories That Create Hope
Through Red Star Voices, families, suicide loss survivors, veterans, and first responders share their own stories. Honest storytelling helps reduce stigma, encourages people to ask for help, and shows others they are not alone.
Honoring Loved Ones Through Recognition
The Red Star Service Banner and the Red Star Service Pin give families a visible way to honor the person they lost, and the Veterans Suicide Awareness Ribbon invites supporters to remember them too.
Awareness, Advocacy, and Suicide Prevention
We raise public awareness of veteran suicide and its effect on families, share suicide prevention resources, and advocate for recognition of surviving families, including support for the pending Red Star Service Banner Act.
You Are Not Alone: Support for Families After Suicide Loss
If you have lost someone to suicide, please know that grief is different for everyone. There is no single right way to feel or respond, and no timeline you have to follow.
Our Red Star Families support page explains how to connect with other families through our peer network. Red Star Foundation is not a clinical or crisis service; for counseling, please reach out to a licensed mental health professional or grief counselor.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 and press 1, or text 838255, to reach the Veterans Crisis Line. In an emergency, call 911.
Help Us Honor the Forgotten Families
Individuals, donors, community organizations, veterans groups, first responder organizations, and businesses can all help families feel seen and supported. You can volunteer with Red Star Foundation, donate to support surviving families, or help a family request a banner.
Their service will not be forgotten. Their families will not be forgotten.
Honoring the Forgotten Families.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are the Forgotten Families of military and veteran suicide?
They are the spouses, parents, children, siblings, friends, and loved ones left behind when a military member, veteran, or first responder dies by suicide. Their grief is often carried quietly, without the recognition other service families receive.
What is a Red Star Family?
Red Star Family is the name Red Star Foundation uses for a family that has lost a military member, veteran, or first responder to suicide. It describes a community connected by loss, love, remembrance, and resilience.
How does veteran suicide affect surviving family members?
Families can experience complicated grief, guilt, anger, and unanswered questions, along with stigma, isolation, and changes to finances and household routines. Children may need extra support, and many families also lose the military or first responder community that once surrounded them.
What support is available after losing a veteran to suicide?
Red Star Foundation offers peer connection with others who share a similar loss, recognition through the Red Star Service Banner and Service Pin, and storytelling through Red Star Voices. For counseling or treatment, families should contact a licensed professional. In a crisis, call 988 and press 1, text 838255, or call 911.
What is the Red Star Service Banner?
The Red Star Service Banner is a symbol of hope, recognition, and connection that honors a military member, veteran, or first responder lost to suicide and the family who loved them. It has not received federal designation; H.R. 7815, the Red Star Service Banner Act, is pending in Congress.
How can a surviving family request a Red Star Banner?
Families can complete the Red Star Banner request form on this website. The request asks for basic information about your loved one and how you would like to be contacted.
How can I help families affected by military and veteran suicide?
You can volunteer, donate, share the Red Star Service Banner with families who may want one, and talk openly about suicide loss so that surviving families feel less alone.
Does Red Star Foundation support first responder families?
Yes. Red Star Foundation honors and connects the families of first responders lost to suicide alongside the families of military members and veterans.
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