"GOLD STAR MOTHERS" SONG NOW PLAYING
 
 
 

GOLD STAR MOTHERS DAY - SEPTEMBER 2021

 

SONG NOW PLAYING WAS WRITTEN  BY DOC'S FRIENDS RON HEALY & SUNG BY HIS FRIEND DAVE HUMMEL
THIS SONG WAS SUNG LIVE AT "DOCS" WISCONSIN POW-MIA NATIONAL BALLOON LAUNCH IN MILWAUKEE
IF YOU WOULD LIKE A COPY OF THE SONG - LET HIM KNOW

DOC SERVED AS AN ARMY MEDIC WITH THE 25TH TROPIC LIGHTNING DIVISION AT CUCHI, VIETNAM
IN 1967/1968. I MET MY ADOPTED GOLD STAR MOM, LINDA DRIZA AT A VETS DANCE AT THE
15TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WALL. WHEN I RETURNED HOME, I CREATED A WEB SITE IN HER HONOR,
AND TO HONOR ALL GOLD STAR MOMS & FAMILY MEMBERS.

"DOC'S" ADOPTED GOLD STAR MOM
LINDA DRIZA
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
"MISS YOU MOM"
Linda Driza
Gone But Not Forgotten
November 2001
I Will Miss Her Dearly!


Doc & Linda
11/11/1997
WE MET IN WASH.D.C. AT OPERATION LZ/DC
15TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WALL!
HER SON STAN & I WERE BOTH MEDICS IN VIETNAM
SHE WAS A WONDERFUL/FUN-ENERGETIC-FULL OF LOVE MOM
WE DANCED TOGETHER-HUGGED TOGETHER-CRIED TOGETHER
GOD I MISS HER- I WILL ALWAYS CHERISH & REMEMBER OUR TIME TOGETHER

STAN DRIZA
MEDIC WITH THE 2/27TH WOLFHOUNDS
CuChi,Vietnam
KIA December 22,1967
Doc met Linda's son Stan for a brief moment in '1967'
Doc was a Medic right down the road from Stan...

E-mail Doc

 

Dear Jeff
January 16, 2017
Thank you so much for creating this wonderful web site honoring Gold Star Mothers.
My son, CPL Nicholas J. Wrobel USMC, OIF died due to his prolonged exposure to the burn pits in  in Al Anbar Province.

My name is Tricia Wood. I am the chapter president of the Oregon Gold Star Mothers.
Any Oregon Gold Star Mothers  - Please Contact Tricia Wood - woodtaustin@yahoo.com

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Such A Wonderful Site
Thank you Doc for your service, and all you are doing for the Gold Star Families
Military Order of the Purple Heart -Post 1849
Robert Hernandez - Fort Worth, Texas

Hello Doc Dentice
I am a Gold Star Mother of LCpl Benjamin H. Gearheart.
I came upon your web page tonight and wish to thank you for it.
I left this page feeling a great sense of caring and understanding from you.
The "Gold Star Mothers" song that was playing.  It truly touched my heart.
Sincerely,
Brenda Gearheart

Hello Doc Dentice
I have attached a poem you might wish to add to your web page.
Thank You from the bottom of my heart, for this tribute page.
I lost my son, combat medic Keith Allen Campbell, DSC, BSM, PH 8 Feb 1967 in Vietnam.
I will always miss him.
Thank You for honoring all God Star Mothers.
Esther  B.Campbell Gates, San Antonio, TX
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Gold Star Mom
The banner was small,but the star was large,
The color of a blue, night sky.
She hung it in the window with trembling fingers
And tried hard not to cry.
He was so young to go far away
As all soldiers have to do.
She knew that danger lurked everywhere,
As she touched the star of blue.
The weeks went by, the months rolled on
She knew he would not die.
Her faith in God held her head up high.
In her heart she sang a song.
But the battles raged. The news was not good
Why did so many have to die?  She was cold,
And she felt terribly old
As the day came that she faced with dread.
When a knock on the door
Shattered her life evermore,
And the blue star turned to gold.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 

CLICK ON THE STATE LICENSE PLATE FOR MORE INFO
COLORADO IS (FALLEN SERVICE MEMBERS PLATE) ON THE FORM
CONTACT DENISE FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE GSM LICENSE PLATE INFO: nhgoldstarmothers@yahoo.com











 

Please visit Darkhorse Lodge

Help Gold Star Mom Gretchen Catherwood build a Retreat for our Combat Veterans.
 
 

Being There For Our Gold Star Families In Such A Wonderful Way!
SNOWBALL EXPRESS

Oldest living 'Gold Star Mother'
Monteen Purdie 100 Years Old
Los Angeles, California
Her son David, was killed in action Aug. 23, 1968 in Vietnam

One day late in August she came home to find a Marine standing in the family room.
"Oh, good, you know David," Purdie told the Marine. "Can you tell me about David?"
"And he said, 'Ma'am, David won't be coming home. He was killed in Vietnam.
 

The Gold Star Mothers Pilgrimages, 1930-1933
 

 Original 1940's World War II
US Gold Star Mother's 10 kt Gold Pin
Picture From: etsy.com
 
 

Many Thanks Doc Dentice
Your web site tribute to all Gold Star Mothers is inspiring.
Thank you for your depth of understanding and all the information you put together.
The family serves in their own way, along with the enlisted.

I am SPC Martin Kondor's Mom
Founder of the Gold Star Garden in York, Pennsylvania.
Past AGSM President
Ann Wolcott sent me your link.
Everyone is invited to take the Walk of the Intrepid, through the Gold Star Garden; remember
loved ones, become the connector between heaven and earth, and know your are loved and appreciated.
On the arms of the Star Walk you will find the names of the Pennsylvania Fallen in the War on Terror.
But know that the GSG is dedicated to all US veterans of all time. Gold Star Garden is open, free, to the public 24/7.
Do visit this beautiful peaceful memorial on you way to Washington or Gettysburg or Lancaster.
Love and Gratitude,
Cher Kondor
Martin's mom
PO BOX 3339
York PA 17402-0339
 

Recorded by the Sons of the Pioneers in the mid to late 1940s
PLEASE CLICK ON THE YOU TUBE LOGO BELOW TO LISTEN TO THE SONG
CLOSE DOCS GOLD STAR SITE SO YOU CAN HEAR THE SONG
THAT WAY YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE SONG WITHOUT HEARING TWO SONGS PLAYING

 

Gold Star Moms Video Tribute
WHEN YOU CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE - PLEASE CLOSE DOCS GOLD STAR SITE
THAT WAY YOU CAN WATCH THE VIDEO WITHOUT HEARING TWO SONGS PLAYING

Picture From: library2.binghamton.edu
 

Veterans Memorial Gold Star Healing & Peace Garden
 Gold Star Garden
The Gold Star Garden started with the dream of an American Gold Star Mother who lost her son in 2004.
("Gold Star" is a term derived from American Gold Star Mothers Inc., who were formed in 1928
as a family response to lives taken during the first World War. Now, Gold Star is applied to family
members who have lost a loved one serving in the U.S. military.) Eight years later, with the help
of board members, the City of York, and the Gold Star families of Pennsylvania, her dream
of creating a memorial for all veterans came true.
This living monument is a gathering place for those who want to commemorate,  remember
the fallen and celebrate the lives of our intrepid sons and daughters who volunteered to protect this country.
The Gold Star Garden is free and open to the public from dusk to dawn all year long.

Picture From: hammandclov.org

Gold Star Mothers Statue, Yonkers, New York. Image courtesy of Field

 GOLD STAR MOTHERS PILGRIMAGE - HISTORY
 

Universal Gold Star License Plates
New York Times Article
By Dr. Gary Farwell
"During World War I, military families started a tradition of hanging a small banner in the windows of their homes.
The banner had a white background, a red border and one blue star for each family member in the military.
If a family member died in service, a gold star replaced the blue.
That gold star has become a simple, cherished symbol of a dead loved one, a parent's way to hold tight a dead child's memory.
In 1928, the American Gold Star Mothers were given a charter by Congress, and at the end of World War II the Gold Star Wives
of America were also given a Congressional charter. The definition has remained constant to this day. The current president
of the American Gold Star Mothers is Norma Luther, whose son died piloting a helicopter in the Bavarian mountains in Germany
on a routine, obviously noncombat, mission. She says of the 32 mothers who signed the original charter, "5 were mothers of sons
lost from influenza, pneumonia, aircraft accident in Texas and accidental gasoline torch explosion in Italy."

In a 1967 directive, the Defense Department reissued the set of standards that formalized the display of the Blue and
Gold Star Service Flag, and in it the Gold Star family continued to be defined as a family who had lost a loved one in the service of the country in a time of war.

In 1949, the Defense Department started awarding all Gold Star families what is now the first version of the Gold Star pin for
all wartime deaths retroactive to World War I. But then, in 1973, the department started awarding two versions of Gold Star pins
to recently bereaved military families: one for certain conflicts, and another version for nonconflicts or differently defined conflicts.
The department did this even though the Gold Star mothers, the Gold Star wives and the Defense Department's own directive make no such distinctions.

For most of us Gold Star families (but I'm sure not all), the idea of having two different Gold Stars seems to miss the point.
The honor given to a family for the death of a loved one should not vary depending on details of where and when it happened —
at least in the eyes and heart of this Gold Star father. About 34 states seem to agree, as they issue universal versions of a Gold Star family license plate to all Gold Star families.
But Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Oregon, Ohio, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Maine, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine,
Massachusetts, Mississippi and Oklahoma have decided that only those families whose loved ones died in combat or a combat zone
should receive their states' Gold Star status. That means that even Norma Luther, the current president of the
American Gold Star Mothers, would not qualify, if she lived in one of those states."
 

The Final Roll Call

We thought of you with love today
But that is nothing new

We thought about you yesterday
And days before that too

We think of you in silence
We often speak your name

Now all we have are memories
And your picture in a frame

Your memory is our keepsake
With which we'll never part

God has you in His keeping
We have you in our Heart

Author Unknown
 

Andrew Chernak creation

Gold Star Mother's Trip To Europe
Picture From: chicagoscots.net
 

This medal was made by Tiffany of NYC and given to all mothers and widows who went on the pilgrimage to the battlefields and cemeteries of France in 1930.
Sponsored by the United States Steamship Line.
The medal is bronze with a gold star at the top.
It hung from a narrow red, white, and blue ribbon and worn at the neck.
Each medal is numbered, but who the recipients were is unknown.

 

CLICK ON LOGO ABOVE
 

Grace D. Seibold
First Gold Star Mother

WWI Gold Star Mom's
With Permission From @: Bob Chada

OLD GOLD STAR BRIDGE HELD MANY MEMORIES

The local chapter of the Gold Star Mothers formed in the early 1930s.
The photo above is believed to have been taken in the 1930s or early 1940s.
The members are (L-R/seated): Mrs. John Sherman, Mrs. Godfrey Kah and Mrs. Julia Heiland; (standing)
Mrs. Anna Nettleship, Mrs. D.W. (Minnie) Williams, Mrs. Walter Pence, Mrs. Richard Hayner, and
Mrs. H.A. (Buelah) Fogt.
A few motorists heading south of Sidney on County Road 25 A take the suggested detour across the Great Miami River past the
jail, but most elect to continue southward and go up Sulphur Heights Hill, bypassing the rapidly concluding construction project
that will result in a new bridge over the river. To most the site is but another construction nuisance
to be left in the rearview mirror, amid a cloud of dust.
Few realize that the ceremony marking the opening of the original bridge in 1933 caused over 5,000 people to march from downtown
Sidney there to pay tribute to a group that always pays the ultimate sacrifice in wartime, but is now largely forgotten: the Gold Star
Mothers. Many will remember this Veterans' Day on November 11 at the bridge, when the new structure is rededicated, and the
surviving Gold Star Mothers recognized. This is the story of the Mothers and how the bridge came to bear their name.

When the battlefield sounds of The World War (as World War I was then known) faded away, numerous veterans groups such as
the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars were organized to commemorate the memory of those who had
died in the great conflict. Formed of those who survived, these groups honored their comrades in arms routinely on such occasions as
Memorial Day and Armistice Day. The healing process for them had begun. For another group, the broken hearts would never heal.

CLICK ON LOGO ABOVE

The International Society of Poets, has awarded their OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN POETRY
award to Board Member Esther Gates, for this poem.  This work will be published by the Gold Star Mothers of America
in their next publication.  It has also been published on the "Poetry of Arlington Cemetery.com" web page.

The President of the American Gold Star Mothers with a French Gold Star Mother at Dony Cemetery, France, in October 1925.
© BETTMANN/CORBIS

Andrew Chernak creation
GOLD STAR MOTHERS STATUE

Is it true that Hillary Clinton refused to meet with a group of American Gold Star Mothers?
No
This story passed through several people before being reported by NewsMax on May 26, 2001 and the details were lost.
The two mothers who visited Washington did not have an appointment with the Senator and she was not in her office on that day.
The NewsMax article did not get the story correct and we deeply regret the misunderstanding about
Senator Hillary Clinton. Senator Clinton greeted us gratiously on Gold Star Mothers Sunday, 2005.

CLICK ON LOGO ABOVE

THE NEWS....

It's Monday, I am doing laundy thinking of you my dear son
I hear a car pull up and I go to the door to see
I see the two men in uniform
My heart begins to race
Thoughts of no, no, no, go away, please go away
Oh God, let it not be my son
He is so young, no I am not done loving him

I open the door and they say we are sorry...
NO  NO  NO  I scream
They continue, the President of the United States
regrets to inform you of the death of your son

The rest of their words falls on deaf ears
I feel my heart breaking so badly
I fall to the floor saying...
my son is no more....

Kerry "Doc" Pardue
 

Gold Star Mothers Reception in New York before departure.
Image originally appeared in Crisis Magazine in 1930
 

Gold Star Mother gets to keep license plate
The Associated Press - 6.30.2011
CATO, N.Y. — An 89-year-old Gold Star mother from central New York is getting back the special license plate she was forced to relinquish.
When she took her car off the road in May, Ethel Barnes of Cato asked the state Department of Motor Vehicles
office if she could keep the plate that paid tribute to her son Robert Barnes, an Army infantryman who died in Vietnam 44 years ago at age 21.
She was dismayed when told it was impossible.
The Syracuse Post-Standard reports that state Sen. Patty Ritchie stepped in and persuaded DMV to recreate the license plate.
The replica will be presented to Barnes Thursday afternoon. She plans to display it with her son's medals.

Gold Star Mothers accept its first Non-Citizen
September 2005
Carmen Palmer of Mount Vernon, New York, who was born in Jamaica - as a member. The group had banned non-citizens for the
first 77 years of its existence, most notably rejecting the application of Ligaya Lagman whose son Anthony was killed while serving in
Afghanistan. Palmer's son, Marine Cpl. Bernard Gooden, died in 2003 in Iraq at age 22.

Gold Star family members ride in Milwaukee, Wi. Vets Day Parade

Missouri Gold Star Mothers with General John J. Pershing at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,
Arlington National Cemetery, September 21, 1930
 

The Staten Island Ferry
had a boat in the 1937 series named Gold Star Mother,
in honor of the nations GSM's.Here are two photos from
The Staten Island Ferry by George W. Hilton, published in 1964.

Thanks Joseph D.Korman for allowing me to put the story & photos
on this Gold Star Moms site..

In South Ferry Slip next to the President Roosevelt (Teddy)

Copyright © 1998 Joseph D. Korman

Passenger Loading Good view of the pilot house and name.

Copyright © 1998 Joseph D. Korman

Gold Star Mother Presentation in 1954

 AMERICAN GOLD STAR MOTHERS INC.

 GOLD STAR MOMS

 Gold Star Mothers: Helping Others Help Themselves

By Rudi Williams
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2000 -- "I think before we send young
men and women anywhere to fight, we'd better be ready to
take care of them when they come home," Mary Wheeler said.
"I don't mean just token appreciation. I mean take care of them."

With tear-glazed eyes, Wheeler said sadly that she
sometimes sits and wonders where America would be today if
young men and women had refused to fight "when we were
first starting our country."

"Where would we be? What would we be doing?" asked Wheeler,
president of American Gold Star Mothers Inc. She still
grieves over the loss of her son in Vietnam more than 32
years ago. She's devoted the past 31 years of her life
thanking veterans and service members for their sacrifices
-- and invoking other Americans to do the same.

Members of Wheeler's group are mothers whose son or
daughter died on active duty. Gold Star Mothers got their
name from a practice that began during World War I of
families hanging flags emblazoned with a dark blue star for
each living member in the service and a gold one for each
who had died. Mothers whose children are listed as missing
can also join the organization.
"By helping others, I helped myself," she said. "All
veterans are my boys and girls. It's what we imagine our
son or daughter might be doing, or what their life would be
like if they were here now. The main thrust of our
organization is to help our veterans and mothers whose sons
or daughters didn't come home.

"There are not many members in our home chapter here in
Washington and they're all getting old," Wheeler said. "We
have members across the country who are 100 years old and
several in their 90s." She estimated the group has about
2,000 members nationwide.
 

Credits for the info below goes to the Holly Fenelon Collection
Permission Granted To Doc Dentice to Share On His Site

Below you will read the stories and see the pictures of our Gold Star Mothers.
I put this page up, in addition to my main Gold Star Mother site, because of the amazing pictures and words Holly has to share.
Mr. Harold Walters, had contacted me for help in getting information about his Great
Grandmother, who is a 2 star Gold Star Mother. So I contacted the Gold Star Mothers National.
Then I received an email from Holly Fenelon, offering to help Harold, and thats how this story started.
Holly is an unofficial historian for the American Gold Star Mothers, Inc. (AGSM).
She recently published a book on the history of "Gold Star Mothers in America" and the history of AGSM.
Another book is in the works about the Gold Star Mother Pilgrimages.
  Email Holly Fenelon

 

 GOLD STAR HISTORY - GOLD STAR PILGRIMAGE
Following WWI, American families had a choice of burying their soldier sons among their fallen comrades in Europe
or having the body repatriated to the U.S. for burial. In either case, the government paid for the burial. Approximately 1/3 of America's
WWI casualties were buried in Europe in American military cemeteries established in the early 1920s. (One was in Belgium,
another in England – the others were in France.) That represented approximately 33,000 European burials.

Burial in France was the decision that the Walters family made for Robert and Valentine.
The American Military Cemeteries were, for the most part, built on or near the major battlefields of the war, and those
who died were buried in the cemetery closest to where they fell. That is the reason Robert and Valentine are buried
in different cemeteries – Robert in the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery and Valentine in the Oise-Aisne Cemetery.

In the decade following the war, there were repeated calls from various groups to somehow allow the families
(or at least the gold star mothers) of the fallen to visit the European gravesites. It wasn't until 1929 that an Act of
Congress was passed to sponsor the Gold Star Pilgrimages of Mothers and Widows. (Widows were eligible to
participate if they had not remarried in the interim since the war.)
Under the guidance of the Army Quartermaster Corps, between 1930 and 1933, approximately
6,400 women (the vast majority of the travelers were mothers) traveled to Europe on month-long
trips to spend time at the place where their child had been buried. (The travel took place between
April and September each year to take advantage of the best sailing weather.) Despite starting
in the earliest and worst years of the Depression, the trip included voyages there and back on first
class ocean liners on which the women were treated like royalty, time in Paris to rest up from the
voyage and to see the war memorials and other historical sites, and a few days at the military cemetery
where their child had found a final resting place. All of this was provided by the government at no
cost to the travelers (it was estimated to have cost $840 round trip per mother/widow). It is almost
impossible to describe the importance and power that this opportunity held for these women; their
personal stories of their travels are both wonderful and very sad to read.

As a "two star Gold Star Mother", Mrs. Walters would have had the opportunity to spend time at
both the Oise-Aisne Cemetery at Valentine's grave site and the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery with Robert.

Guests were allowed to accompany the mothers/widows, but were required to pay their
own way and, for some events, to make their own arrangements. I am aware of very few mothers
and widows who traveled with other family members – I think the cost was just too prohibitive
for most families at the time to allow additional family members to participate. It would have
cost quite a bit more than the $840 price tag calculated by the government. In some cases, when
both a mother and her son's eligible widow were going, they would choose to travel together.
In the Pilgrimage eligibility book (printed in 1929 by the government), Mrs. Walters is noted as
hoping to travel in 1930, the first year of the pilgrimages. The majority of the travelers made
the trip during that year – there were approximately 300 women leaving from NY each week during
the spring and summer to begin their trips to Europe. The trips were organized by state so
often travelers knew each other from their home towns.

FROM THE HOLLY FENELON COLLECTION

Harold – Your family history surrounding World War I is such a sad one. Two brothers lost
in the war and a third lost from despair. Most families didn't have to face that much sorrow from the war.

I checked the WWI membership records of American Gold Star Mothers, Inc. and did not
find Frances listed as a member of that gold star group. New York was the site of another
gold star group in the 1930s that was prominent in the news of the time, although their
membership never grew to more than a thousand members. (AGSM had approximately 25,000
members at its peak following World War II and continues as an active organization today.) The
New York group was called American Gold Star Mothers of the World War, Inc. (AGSM-WW).
There is a possibility that Frances was a member of that organization since it was pretty much
in her backyard. New York also had a number of smaller gold star groups that came together
during and following WWI. Some mothers also joined the American Legion Gold Star Auxiliary, the
gold star auxiliary of the American War Mothers organization and a similar group attached to
the Veterans of Foreign Wars.  I know she was not national president of AGSM, but she might
have served in that capacity for one of the other organizations. Nor would she have been national
president of AGSM-WW since the founder, Mrs. Mathilda Burling, served in that capacity
for the 18+ years that the organization lasted.

AGSM was founded in 1928; AGSM-WW was founded in 1930. If Mrs. Walters had an opportunity
to meet Mrs. Wilson it was probably during the war since neither President Wilson nor his
wife were much in the public eye following his term in office, due to the serious stroke he had
suffered while in office. Based on that, the meeting would not have been with either of the AGSM groups.
Perhaps she was part of a NY delegation to the White House or was invited for some special event.
As a two-star gold star mother, she would have been accorded special respect by the government and the public.

One thing that many folks do not understand is that the term "gold star mother" is a public
term, rather than a government term. It comes directly from the service flag (or service banner)
that families hung in their windows with blue stars for family members who were serving in the
military. Gold stars were applied over the blue star representing a family member if that individual
gave his life in the line of duty. The family flag that you described with two gold stars and one blue
star would have shown three blue stars for most of the war, but two of the stars would have been
changed to gold to reflect the death of Robert and Valentine. Mrs. Walters was a gold star
mother by virtue of her loss, regardless of whether she joined one gold star mothers
organization, several of them or none at all.

As an aside, service flags were patented in 1917, shortly after the U.S. entered WWI in April.
They were the idea of a retired Army veteran who invented them as a way to honor his family
members who were serving in the military. To use today's term, the service flag idea quickly
went "viral" and they soon appeared in every corner of the U.S.  They were commercially manufactured
and available in stores, but many families chose to make their own. They were made of felt, cotton,
satin and just about any other material that was available. Some were made of paper while others
were crocheted or knitted. You could buy a crochet pattern for a service flag and stars for 12 cents
and a self-addressed stamped envelope! In 1918, Liberty magazine printed the image of a service flag
on its cover with additional stars inside the magazine that could be cut out and glued to the paper flag.

Some of the items Harold described from her trip are familiar to me:

·         A bronze medallion showing a ship, the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower on the front
was given to each traveler by the U.S. Shipping Lines as a souvenir of their voyage across the
Atlantic. It was designed by Tiffany. It came boxed with a long red, white and blue ribbon, designed
to be worn around the neck. The year printed on the medallion would have been 1930 or 1933 although
voyages were made in 1931 and 1932 as well. They just used the 1930 medallions until they ran out
and then had another group printed with 1933 on them. There is a number stamped on the edge of
the medallion – it indicates the tracking number associated with the medallion. Each medallion came
with a certificate made out with the recipient's name and the medallion number. (You can see the
front and back on the attached Medallion Press photo; the certificate is shown on the GS Pilgrimage
Medallion Certificate – Sarah Russ 1930 photo.)


·         Each mother and widow received a photograph of her standing by the headstone of their
son or husband's grave. (See attached Mother Hommon at grave photo for an example.)

MOTHER HOMMON
Other items that each traveler received included:
·         A name badge prepared by the government that they were asked to wear at all times. (example attached)
·         An American flag that could be rolled and stored in a tube; the tube became a handle for
the flag when in use. This was provided by the City of New York to each mother
and widow who participated in the Pilgrimages.

·         Two special passports issued specifically for the Pilgrimage travelers – one was black and one was red.

·         The travelers received copious amounts of information from the Quartermaster Corps
prior to beginning their trips. There were itineraries for traveling from their homes to NYC, instructions
for every aspect of the trip, train schedules, information on what could be brought in terms of luggage, etc..
At each phase of the journey, additional materials were handed out concerning schedules, menus,
sightseeing opportunities, the location of their child's grave at the cemeteries, etc.

To the best of my knowledge, there is currently no place in which the history of various gold star mothers
is retained. You might be successful looking in the old archives of the NY Times for information
about her and her losses. It may help to know that she would have been well-known in her community and
state as the gold star mother of two soldiers and many special opportunities were probably made available
to her beyond the Pilgrimage and a visit to the White House. The soldiers who returned from WWI made
it a special mandate to recognize and care for the mothers and families of their comrades who had not returned.

The link below takes you to Ancestry.com's data base on the women who were eligible to participate
in the Pilgrimages – there's not much information provided but it was the official government list at the time:
 Gold Star Pilgrimages - Ancestry.Com
 
 

Veterans Website's By Jeff "Doc" Dentice
I Will Help All Veterans-All Military Men & Women & Their Families
If AnyOne Hits The Lottery-Doc really needs some support.
Keeping his Vets sites online - Ink - Paper - New computer etc.
 

E-mail Doc
docdentice@wi.rr.com

Sites By "Jeff Doc Dentice
MUSIC PLAYING ON MOST SITES
CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW