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Widow Of Fallen Soldier Gets Support From Organization Husband Co-Founded In Mass.

BOSTON (CBS) – Army sergeant Eric Emond helped start an organization in Massachusetts to help Gold Star families. Now, sadly, his wife is using that very service to keep her family going.

"Every choice he made was for other people, was for the betterment of others, whether it be his family, or his country," Allie Emond told CBS News.

She wants to tell the story of her late husband, a Green Beret killed in Afghanistan last November on his seventh tour of duty.

"We all went into this deployment thinking it was gonna be the last one and he'd come home and get set up to retire," Emond said.

Eric Emond
Sgt. 1st Class Eric M. Emond (Image from Department of Defense)

But it was not to be. The Fall River native was 39 leaving behind his wife and three daughters, ages seven, four and one.

"There's not a whole lot of reason there'd be two uniformed soldiers standing outside of your door," Emond said. "My four year old saw the whole thing."

Allie Emond
Allie Emond (CBS News)

They were now a Gold Star family and that's where the story becomes painfully ironic. In 2009, Eric and other vets started an organization called Massachusetts Fallen Heroes, dedicated to helping Gold Star families.

He devoted years of his life to his country and Gold Star families and now his death leaves behind a new such family.

In May, Eric's name will appear on a memorial in Boston for U.S. troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Eric helped build the memorial.

"He was an incredible person. He couldn't have been a better man," Allie Emond said. "And I guess I just want people to know that."

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