Gold Star family members say they were assaulted by mob outside Inaugural Ball

Washington, DC - Two Gold Star family members were assaulted by angry protesters outside the Renaissance Washington DC Downtown Hotel on Friday night, where the American Legion hosted a tribute to Medal of Honor recipients at the Veterans Inaugural Ball.

"As soon as we started walking they all turned to us and converged on us and got in our faces were screaming really vile obscenities in our faces." She says it happened when she and her friend Amy Looney were in Washington Friday just as they arrived for the Veterans Inaugural Ball where the American Legion hosted a tribute to Medal of Honor recipients.

"The thing we couldn't believe was the hate in these people's eyes. They were looking at us with such hatred and they had no idea who we were," said Manion who was invited because she started the Travis Manion Foundation 10 years ago after her brother was killed in action in Iraq. Looney's husband was killed in Afghanistan.

They say the protesters were back again as the event let out but Manion says that time they got physical.

"A man came up he's wearing a mask and he kind of chest bumped me from the back and I banged into Amy and then a group of women came up and got right in our faces and started screaming obscenities not just in our face but a little boy that was walking by with his grandmother. They crouched down and got right in his face."

She says one person even wrote on the back of her coat as she rushed off. She's disappointed at what happened.

"I think it's a defining moment in our country. We are divided but I think it's our differences that make our country so great and if we can't unite in our differences we're in a really bad place," said Manion.