Gold Star families are demanding an apology from Donald Trump following Ghazala Khan's comments

The Gold Star Mothers Club was formed in the aftermath of World War One to offer support to those who had lost sons or daughters during the conflict.

Having continued through the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflicts around the world, the club currently has 933 members.

On Monday, 17 of those Gold Star Families published a public letter to Donald Trump, upbraiding the Republican presidential candidate in strong language after he became involved in a controversy with the parents of a Muslim-American solider who died in Iraq.

“We are all Gold Star Families, who have lost those we love the most in war. Ours is a sacrifice you will never know. Ours is a sacrifice we would never want you to know,” they wrote.

“Your recent comments regarding the Khan family were repugnant, and personally offensive to us. When you question a mother’s pain, by implying that her religion, not her grief, kept her from addressing an arena of people, you are attacking us. When you say your job building buildings is akin to our sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice.”

They added: “You are not just attacking us, you are cheapening the sacrifice made by those we lost.”

The families wrote the letter after Mr Trump found himself at the centre of controversy over comments he made about a couple whose son died in Iraq and criticised his “smearing” of Muslims. Mr Trump later hit back, suggesting that Mrs Khan had not been permitted to speak at the event because of her religion.

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Mrs Khan rapidly shot back in an article for the Washington Post, saying: “Here is my answer to Donald Trump: Because without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain.”

She added: “Walking onto the convention stage, with a huge picture of my son behind me, I could hardly control myself. What mother could? Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak?”

Among the 17 parents who signed the letter to Mr Trump was Nadia McCaffrey, whose son Patrick was killed in 2004, and who defied President George W Bush by allowing the media to view the coffin of her son. Speaking from Long Beach, California, she told The Independent: “Everything that Donald Trump says is crazy. He has no respect for the people whose children fought for this country. I’mm flabbergasted that he would do this.”

In their letter, the families said Mr Trump was minimising the contribution that their children had made.

“This goes beyond politics. It is about a sense of decency. That kind decency you mock as “political correctness”, said the letter.

“We feel we must speak out and demand you apologise to the Khans, to all Gold Star families, and to all Americans for your offensive, and frankly anti-American, comments.”

Karen Meredith’s son, Ken Ballard, first deployed to Iraq on Mother’s Day 2003. She was notified of his death, on Memorial Day, 2004. She said he died within a week of the Khan’s son, Humayun, and that the two were buried in the same row at Washington’s Arlington Cemetery. She also signed the letter.

“I cannot understand why he does not feel the pain of the Khans,” she said.

She said Mr Trump’s comments were an insult to all families who had lost children in such circumstances. She said: “When you attack one Gold Star family, you attack all of us."