Three-year-old Gavin Weir lost his father to war when he was getting out of diapers.

But he knows who his “Dada” is, says his grandmother, Jackie Weir. So the Weir family, of Cleveland, Tenn., couldn’t hold back their excitement when the White House Commission on Remembrance gave Gavin a gold medal Thursday — the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 — in honor of Army Sgt. David Weir.

Sgt. Weir, 23, was killed by a stray bullet in Baghdad on Sept. 14, 2006.

“We’re just really excited for Gavin,” Mrs. Weir said. “This will be one of the first times since David’s death that Gavin has been involved in a ceremony like this. It’s so nice that they’re doing this.”

Gavin was among about 60 children honored during the Gold Medal Remembrance ceremony at Fort Campbell, Ky., his father’s former post with the 1/61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. He joins several hundred other children across the nation who have been honored for their parents’ sacrifices in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

As of Thursday, 4,158 casualties had been reported in Operation Iraqi Freedom and another 585 in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense.

The Army wanted to hold the ceremony Thursday because, while grieving widows often garner the attention and sympathy of the American public, their children sometimes do not, Fort Campbell spokeswoman Cathy Gramling said.

“They’re kind of the forgotten ones,” she said.

The nonpartisan commission, which Congress established in 2000, has taken it upon itself to remind the children — and the general public — that they are important, Executive Director Carmella LaSpada said.

“We’d love to recognize every child who has lost a parent in every conflict,” Ms. LaSpada said. “We wouldn’t be a country without these parents’ sacrifices, going back to the Revolutionary War. ... The only thing that stops us (from giving medals to everyone) is a limitation of funds.”

Capt. Nick Chaisson, who represented Sgt. Weir’s unit during the ceremony, said he hopes the medals and accompanying certificates will make lasting impressions and inspire a sense of patriotism in their recipients.

“We do all kinds of paperwork, and we can remember the soldier that way,” Capt. Chaisson said. “But (the child) can have this medal for the rest of his life, so he knows that the Army cared for him, even when he was 3.”

ON THE WEB

To read a list of every fallen service member from the Korean War to the present conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, visit the White House Commission of Remembrance Web site at www.remember.gov.

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