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Gold Star Mothers at Tombof Unknown SoldierBy ELMO SCOTT WATSONjjiMOiUAL day this year will De unique in the history of that day. Here in America it will be observed ih the manner familiar to all of us. Butover across the Atlantic groups ofAmerican women will visit the places where “stand the crosses, row on row and there pay reverent tribute to America’s soldier dead who: sleep in foreign soil. But this tribute will not be juBt a formal gesture I by a group. To each one of these women it will be- an intimate, personal act of devotion. For these women areAmerica’s Gold Star Mothers, and with loving hands they will lay flowers upon the graves of their sons. i’ -So Memorial day this year will be trafqiie because of the pilgrimage of Gold Star Mbthers which has been arranged by the United States government. The idea of this pilgrimage - dates from March 2, 1929, when congress passed] a bill authorizing an appropriation of more than S5,000,-000 to cover the expense of taking.the mothers and wives of the service men, who met their death in the World war, as the guests of the-government for a visit to the place where thekr boI-dfer dead are buried. The War department was then directed to make the necessary preparations for the visits and Invitations were sent out to 31,630 of these women, Of that number 5,640 have accepted and they will be taken at various times this summer. The remaining 5,990 have been listed and may make the trip at convenient times between now and October, 1933.The trip will be under the direction of the War department with the quartermaster corps In direct charge, and every detail will be handled by army officers. The quartermaster corps has developed the American cemeteries in Europe and is responsible for their administration. • The graves of service men buried abroad are in its charge. It Is giving infinite care to the 4hoice of the officers who are to be responsible for all the Gold Star Mothers who, cross the seas, and its one idea is that the women who go on this journey shall have everything to make them comfortable andhappy.It is an immense project, this taking 5,000 women to a foreign country. Most of the women are between sixty and sixty-five years old, one is eighty-eight, some of them are in ill health and only their desire to see the last resting place of their beloved dead spurs them to cross the sea and to adventure in foreign lands among people who are strangers.The War department has tried to think of every possible contingency and provide for. it. All the experience in planning military expeditions, from food to passage, has been used to work' out arrangements to the smallest detail, and leeway is provided for those unexpected contingencies which they know always arise. The difficult feature about this pilgrimage is that it Is unique. There has never been anything like it, so the War department has no experience to build its plans on. It must estimate on vision and imagination to cover all possibilities.They have figured on $840 per person for each of the women who go—and incidentally no woman who has already visited the grave of her son or husband may go on this pilgrimage, ItB purpose Is to take those women who cannot go otherwise than as guests of the government.Besides the actual expense of transportation and care of the mothers, which adds up to this $840 apiece, there will be the salaries of an office force in New York and Paris. The mothers will be looked after by army officers from the moment they arrive in New York until they are put on board the train in New York again after they return from Europe.Every mother who is to go has received an engraved card inviting her, In the name of the United States government, to go on the pilgrimage, So far only those have been asked who have aetual .graves to visit. Legislation is pending which would permit those to go whose sons or husbands were buried at sea or are among the missing abroad.The women will go to New York, whence all Ballings will be made, arriving the day before sailing. They will go in groups of 800, sailing once a week from May to October. Their fare will be paid from their homes to New York, but they must come to New York without chaperon-age from the government. The War deportment has made the most careful arrangements with the various railroads, however, to see that the women get their tickets and the railroads are doing their bit by promising every aid, even1-to delivering tickets 'personally to mothers who live in the country.Each mother will have a badge of red, white and blue ribbon, with her name on a metal bar, her number on the back—for each woman will have a number on file in the War department— and; this badge will entitle her to special care on her way to New York. Every railroad employe.tlMM*mmMmurn$mmmm-iwxW'jk*:*rryp*,,.-,v.» W.vwivX■m: f:SS«*Kv-Ilii.....mmMemorial Chapel at Tftia-Cotirt■ •from conductor to switchman, will be instructed to look after any woman wearing;that badge, with the Gold Star and the Great Seal of the United States on It. -The pilgrims will be met in New York, by army officers, mostly captairiq' and,lieutenants who have been detailed to stay with , the groups. The pilgrims will be housed in first-class hotels. Nine dollars and fifty cents a day is allowed per person in New York. They will stay in New York overnight and the Gold Star Mothers organization will entertain each group the day after they arrive and before they embark. They will sail on American ships and go first class. Everything will be paid for them, from stewards to steamer rugs.Arrived in Cherbourg the mothers will be met by officers who will conduct them to Paris, where they will stay two days. The groups on the ships will be arranged by states and by cemeteries. Asthey arrive they will be broken up into units of25, each forming a busload. From then on each unit will be in charge of an officer who will stay with them until they re-embark..The war mothers of France are preparing a warm welcome for them. General Gourand, commanding the military district of Paris, will put himself at their disposal. There will be visits by groups to the grave of the Unknown Soldier and to the Suresnes cemetery, “the Arlington of France, which Is on the edge of Paris, a place of surpassing beauty. Priests, rabbis and Protestant ministers will be available, American nurses will attend them and the doors of the American hospital will swing open to any who need treatment.Not only will it be an Immense project to take these mothers to Europe, but it was an almost equally stupendous task to search out the mothers of the 30,000 American Soldiers who are buried in France, Belgium and England—mostly in France. There had been no occasion for locating these mothers until the present legislation was passed. The quartermaster corps started with the name of the next of kin which was given by each man when he went into the army. It wrote 30,000 letters to the addresses given. Out of every 100 sent, forty came back unclaimed. Those who had been set down as next of kin had died, or moved away, or otherwise disappeared during the twelve or thirteen years that had passed since they were last heard from.But 60 per cent of* the next-of-kin letters brought answers. Of mothers of those who bad died abroad, less than half were still alive. Of Wives of those who had died abroad there were many who had married again and so became ineligible for the trip. The number of widows who will make the trip Is small.The mothers who responded to letters.having been located the quartermaster corps went further in its search for the relatives of those whose next of kin did not respond. It operated through the veterans’ bureau. Becuuse of insurance and compensation, that agency has been in touch with most of them. Yet there has been found only one mother or widow to about three men buried abroad—31,030 out of 80,792.The ships, their days of sailing, and the number of war mothers each will carry are as follows: America, May 7, 300} .Republic, May 13 202; Harding, May 14, 150; Washington, May 21.IkTTRHATIOHA’PWJTOGemetery at Ifomaqne Romagna France300; Roosevelt, May 28, 150; America, June 4, 300; Harding, Junev14, 300; Roosevelt, June 21, 300; Republic, June 25, 350; America, July 2, 300; Harding, July 9, 300; Washington, July 23, 300; Republic, July 26, 300; America, July 30, 200; Roosevelt, August 9, 200; Washington, August 19, 400; America, August 27, 300; Republic, August 30, 620.Many knotty problems have been met at every stage of the arrangements. With more than 5,000 to go, coming from every state in the Union, there was the question of where to begin. It was thought that it would be a happy arrangement if the mothers from given localities could go together. Most would be likely to have friends or acquaintances from the start. They would at least feel more .at home surrounded by other women from their own state. But what should be the order oftheir going from the different states?In the end the matter was left to chance. The names of the states were put in a basket and drawn out one at a time. The women from the first state that came out of the 'basket went first, and so on. Mrs. Herbert Hoover drew the names and the ceremony took place at the White House late last’year. , , .Here is a list, in the order in which they came out of the basket and the number of women from each state who will go over this summer; Nebraska, 59; Florida, 37; Delaware, 5; Kentucky, 56; Ohio; 282; Arkansas, 47; Iowa, 131; Montana, 39; Porto Rico, 1; Oklahoma, 88; South Dakota, 31; Washington, 127; California, 309; Rhode Island, 40; District of Columbia, 20; North Dakota, 59; Michigan, 215; Wisconsin, 177; Maryland, 49; New York, 742; Massachusettes, 318; Hawaii, 1; Nevada, 4; Wyoming, 13; Virginia, 69; New Mexico, 2; Oregon, 90; Mississippi, 36; .Illinois, 259; Idaho, 25; Minnesota, 162; Texas, 135; North Carolina, 225; Utah, 31; New Jfersey, 229; Pennsylvania^ 497; West Virginia, 43; Georgia, 83; Louisiana, 40; Missouri, 151; Vermont, 20; Tennessee, 71; Kansas, 108; Indiana, 115; Connecticut. 74 Alabama, 65; Arizona, 15; Maine, 38; South Carolina, 40; New Hampshire, 37; Colorado, 64.There are eight cemeteries in Europe which the Gold Star Mothers will visit One is In England, one in Belgium, and six are in France. All eight of these cemeteries have been laid out with skill, Gravel and cement walks, which were planned from the standpoint of convenience and art, wind their way through eaeh of them. Marble headstones mark every grave. Trees, flowers and shrubs contribute to the beauty and peaceful atmosphere. - At each of the American cemeteries there Is a caretaker, a World war veteran, whc by reason of his own experience, is able to meet with proper understanding those who come tc visit the graves. Each cemetery ha» its chapel and in nearly all the hostess houses have been completed.The Meuse-Argonne cemetery at Rornagne, neai Verdun, which is the largest of all the American cemeteries in Europe and wherein 14,167 American soldier dead are burled, is tapproximately 150 miles by bus from Paris, A hostess house is maintained in this cemetery for the convenience ol those visitors who desire to stay overnight, or tc remain several days.In the St. Mihiel cemetery 4,148 soldier deac lie buried. It is located near the small town o] Thlaucourt, whose population is about 1,200, Ir the department of the Aisne. St. Mihiel Is ap^ proxlmately 70 miles from Parle, 25 miles froir Metz and 80 miles from Nancy*The Oise-Aisne cemetery, where 5,993 Araeriear soldier dead are burled, is In the department oi the Aisne, approximately 65 miles from Paris.The Aisne-Marne cemetery, where 2,208 service men are buried, is located near the village oi Belleu, department of the Afsne, about 6 miles from Ohauteau-Thlerry and approximately CCmiles from Paris.The Flanders field cemetery, in Belgium, where 338 American soldier dead are burled, is about 25 miles from Lille.The Brookwood cemetery, where 437 of our sol-dler dead lie buried, is at Brookwood, Surrey England, only about 28 miles from London.Each of these cemeteries has been so developed that it has become an area of great beauty, and is so cared for as to constitute a continuing proof of the country’s appreciation ‘of the services oi those who lie burled there,
Newspaper Details
Buffalo Center Tribune
Buffalo Center, Iowa, US
Thu, May 15, 1930
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Mary S.
MO, USA 25 May 2020
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