GUILFORD — Americans can do little more than hope and pray that the country’s military forces will survive the latest confrontation abroad, but if an Abbot woman has her way, the entire state of Maine will be dotted with yellow ribbons to signify support for the military troops in the Persian Gulf.

Veronica Sweetser of Abbot, a single mother of a U.S. serviceman, has asked town officials in each community to decorate their memorials or lamp posts with yellow ribbons on Saturday, Sept. 15. The majority of the town officials in Piscataquis County have agreed to show their support on that day, she said.

She also hoped individuals and businesses would take the initiative to display yellow ribbons as well.

There is no significance for holding the event on Sept. 15, Sweetser said, but it would give residents a chance to express their concern for the members of the armed forces abroad.

Sweetser is not new to the military life. Her father, James Snowden of Florida, was a prisoner of war in World War II. Now her son, Charles Sweetser of Fort Eustis, Va., is prepared to serve his country as his grandfather did years before.

Charles Sweetser, who is training to become an aircraft mechanic, will depart for the Persian Gulf at the end of his training. He will leave behind his young wife, his 6-week-old baby and his mother, whom he has not seen in more than a year.

A product specialist and coordinator for Guilford Industries in Guilford, Sweetser said she was not representing any organization in this drive. She said she believed it would be rewarding to “have people drive through our communities and see that we, as towns and counties, do support the efforts of the military.”