An annual ceremony was held in Rockland County on Thursday to honor local Gold Star families and help them heal.

Bob and Vivian Allen were at the event in New City to honor their son.

Their son, Army National Guardsman Louis Allen, and Army Capt. Phillip Esposito were killed in 2005 on their base in Tikrit, Iraq.

A landmine exploded outside the room they were in and other explosives detonated nearby.

Military investigators said a sergeant in Allen's unit deliberately put the mine by the window, though the sergeant was ultimately acquitted on murder charges.

Allen's parents were not always able to share their story in the way they did at Thursday's ceremony at the New City Library.

"At the beginning, attending anything would just make me cry, but now I just feel honored."

Vivian Allen said that after finally coming to a settling point in her own family's tragedy, she became a peer advocate for other parents who have more recently lost children at war.

"We have a Gold Star Mothers chapter in the Hudson Valley," she said. "Whenever we learn of a new Gold Star mother, I usually go and talk to them and help them get through the worst day of their lives."

Rockland County Executive Ed Day, who has had two sons in the Army, said that years after their losses local Gold Star families still need community support.

"Please take a few minutes of your time to reflect, maybe offer a prayer," he said to the families, "and show support for our local families whose loved ones made the ultimate sacrifice."

Vivian Allen said she has only become more active in her local Gold Star Mothers chapter.

"We're a service organization," she said. "We carry on the service that our children never got to finish."

1st Lt. Louis Allen was 34 years old.

He was a high school earth science teacher and a father of four.

He arrived in Iraq four days prior to his death.