Duchesne Courier | 1930-05-16 | Page 6 | A Pilgrimage of Gold Star Mothers

t u I Y i il 0 of fi V a ola tar oth ts' ts t Io wJ z n i w t I tk C 1 f S Sa II I I II a y I at ya r I 1 b ag a A b x float SC r t ti o V 1 k t j G Memorial at x I 4 SO SOy y y 1 at atT Tomb Gold Star MotherS of Soldier t By ELMO SCOTT WATSON Ua L d day this thIs' year win will be bc unique In the history of ot that d day y Here in America merica It will be bc observed In In- In the in-the the 14 1 manner familiar to all of ot us But Bu l over across the Atlantic groups gro of ot 4 American women wl will I visit the places f f M 77 where stand the crosses row rov on l rew row and there pay reverent re tribute to Americas America's soldier dead lead who sleep steep In foreign soil But this tribute will m not be bc just a formal gesture by a a group To each one of these women it will be an an Intimate personal act ct of devotion For these women are Americas America's Gold Star Mothers and with loving g hands they will III lay flowers upon the graves raves of their sons So Memorial day this year will be unique because because be be- cause of the pilgrimage of ot Gold Star Sta Mothers Mothe which has be been n arranged by the United States government The idea of this pilgrimage dates from March 2 1929 wh when n c congress I gress passed a bill bUl authorizing an appropriation o of more than to cover over the expense of taking the tie m mothers and wives of the service men who met their death in the World war as as' as the guests guests' of ot the government government government gov gov- for a visit to the place where their soldier soldier sol sol- dier dead are burled The War department was then directed to make the necessary preparations for tor the visits and Invitations ID were sent out to of these women Of that number JO 50 have accepted and they will be taken at various times this summer The remaining ha have hae e been listed and may may make the trip at convenient times times' v between now and October 1933 The trip will wn be under the direction of the War department with th the quartermaster corps In direct charge and every ery detail will be handled by army officers The quartermaster corps has devel developed ped the American n cemeteries In Europe and Is re re- re e for tor their administration The graves of f service service men buried d abroad are In Its charge It ItIs ItU 1 Is U giving Infinite care to the choke choice of ot the officers who are to b be responsible tor for ati all the Gold Star Mothers who cross ross the seas and Its one Idea Is that t the women who go on this Journey jour ey shall have hate everything to make them comfortable and happy It It Is an Immense project this taking women to a country Most l of ot the women are between sixty and sixty five years ears old one is eighty eight some Bome of ot them are in ill III health and only their desire to see the I last st resting pl place ce nt their beloved belo dead spurs them to cross to-cross cross the sea and to adventure ad In for foreign in lands amon among people who are strangers The The War department has tried to think of ot every possible contingency and provide for for forIt it All Alt the experience experienc In planning military e expeditious from food tood to passage has as been used to work out arrangements arrangements arrangements ar ar- to the smallest d detail tall and leeway Is provided for those unexpected contingencies es which they know always arise The he difficult feature about this pilgrimage Is that It Is unique There has never been anything like it so the War department department de de- has no experience to build Its plans on It must estimate on vision and Imagination t to cover coyer all aU possibilities They have bave figured on per person for tor each ench of the women who and go and go-and and Incidentally fally no woman who has already visited the grave ye of her son son or husband may go go on on this pilgrimage ge Its purpose Is la to take t take k those women who cannot go otherwise than as guests of the gc government Besides the actual expense of ot transportation and care of ot the mothers which adds up to to this this' 40 apiece there will be the salaries of ot an office force orce In New York and P Paris The mothers will be looked after atter by army array officers from the moment they arrive c In N New w York until they are put on S 'S board the train In New York again after they return turn from Europe Every mother who is to go has rec received an nn engraved card inviting her In the name of ot the United States government go to to go goon on the pilgrIm So far tar only those have been asked who who l have ve e gra graves yes to visit Legislation Is pending which would permit those to go whose sons l or husbands were burled buried at sea or are among the hissing abroad p The women will lU go to New York whence all sailings will be made male arriving t the ie day ay before sailing They will g go In g groups of ot sailing selling once a week from May October t to Their fare will be paid from their homes to New Nev York but they must come to New York without chaperon age from the government The War department has made the most careful arrangements with with the various railroads however to see that the women women get their tickets rand and the railroads are d doing their bit by promising aid every even to delivering tickets personally to mothers mothers' who ho live In the country Each mother will wilt ha have e a badge of red white and nd blue blu ribbon with her name on a metal bar her Mier her number on the b back for back for each woman will will 1111 a number on file me In the War department d an and this badge will entitle her to special care on her way to New York Every railroad I I 4 t 4 iaL Chapel at from conductor to fo switchman will be Instructed to look after any woman wearing that Hiat badge with the Gold Cold S Star ar and the Great S Seal al of Qt the United States on it it it The lle pilgrims will iII be met In New York by army officers mostly captains u ad d lieutenants who hn have ve been detailed detailed to stay with the groups The pilgrims pit pil grins grims will be hous housed d In first first class hotels Nine dollars and fifty cents a day day Is Is a allowed l wed per person in In New rew i York rk They will stay in n New York overnight overnight overnight over over- night and the Gold Stir Star Mothers organization Uon will entertain entertain each group the the day after they arrive and be before or they embark They will sail on Amerlean Amerlean American Amer Amer- lean ican ships and and go first class Everything E will be bep p paid id for tor them from stewards to steamer rugs Arrived In hi Cherbourg tHe mothers will be met by officers officers' who will wih conduct them to Paris where they will stay two days clays The Jr groups ups on the ships will willbe be arran arranged ed by states and b by cemeteries As they arrive they will be be- blok broken up Into units of 25 each forming a busload From i then on each unit will he be In charge of rin an officer who will stay with them until th they y re re re lb The war mothers of ot France are art preparing a warm welcome for them hem General Genel-al commanding com coin manding the military dl district of Purls Paris will put himself at their disposal There will be visits by y groups to the the grave of ot the Unknown Soldier r rand and to the Suresnes cemetery the Arlington of ot France Is s on on the edge of Paris a n place of ot mi surpassing beauty Priests PrIestS' rabbis rabbis' and Prot Protestant piot- piot extant nt ministers will be h-e aHa a available le American nurses nurse will attend them and the do doors rs of ot the American hospital will swing open to any who need treat treatment treat ment mont Not only will It he be an aD Immense project to take these mothers to Europe but It was nn an almost equally stupendous task to to search out the mothers of ot the American soldiers who are burled hurled In France Belgium I lum und England r mostly England mostly In trance France There bad had been no occasion for locating these mothers until the Ule present legislation was was was' passed The quartermaster corps started with the name flame of ot the n next of t kin which was us given by each man when he went vent Into th the army n It wrote letters to the addresses given put Out of gf every s sent nt forty came cume hack back unclaimed Those who wife lad had b been en set down as pest next of or orkin kin had died or moved away or oUIE otherwise disappeared dur during ilg the twelve twelve or thirteen years that had hud passed since Ince they were last heard from But 00 U per cent of the next of letters brought ht answers Of mothers of t t those iose who h had d died abroad less than thun h half tt were still alive Of f wives of nt those who had had died abroad there were m many ny who had bad married again and anti so became ineligible luella inch gible for fur the trip The number of ot widows who will snake make the trip Is small The mothers who responded to letters having hc been cn located the quartermaster corps went further In Its search for far the relatives of ot those whose next I f of kin did not respond It operated d th through ou h the thc veterans' veterans bureau Because of ot Insurance and com corn compensation compensation that agency has hus been In touch with west most of them Yet there has been fo found nd only odly one mother or widow to about three men burled abroad H broad out our of ot The ships their days of ot of sailing salling and und the num ber lIer ot of war mothers ea each h will carry curry are 1110 as na follows follow fol fol lows low America 4 May 7 BOO Republic Ma May 13 13 Harding May 14 Washington May 21 21 SOO Roosevelt May 28 America Amerl a June 4 Har Harding June Jun e 14 Roo Roosevelt June 21 SOO Republic June 25 America July 2 Harding Jul July 9 9 Washington July 23 Republic July 20 26 SOO America July 30 30 Ro Roosevelt sevelt August 9 Washington n August 10 America August 27 Republic August 30 Many knotty problems have been met at every stage of or the arrangements With more than to go coming from every state In the Union there was the question of where to begin It was WIlS thought that It would be a happy arrangement If the mothers s tr from m given localities could go together Most would be he likely to have ha friends or acquaintances acquaint acquaint- ances from from the start They would at least feel more at home surrounded by other women from their own stafe stale But nut what should be Qc the or order er of ot th their ir goIng from the different states states in In n the the end the matter was left to chance The names of ot the tile states were put In a basket basket and and drawn out put one ne at a time The women from the first st state te that came out of the Uie b basket WC went first firs and aid s sri so i on Mrs Herbert Hoover Joo drew the names and the ceremony took place at the White House late la last t year ear Here Is a list In th order In which they came out of the basket and anti the number of women from each state who will vill go over this su summer mer Nebraska Nebraska Ne Ne- braska blasl 51 W Florida 37 Delaware 5 Kentucky 50 fiG Ohio Arkan Arkansas as 47 Iowa Montana I 3 39 Porto Rico 1 Oklahoma 88 83 South Dakota 31 Washington California Rhode Island Island Island Is- Is Is Is- land 40 District of ot Columbia 20 North Dakota nn fI Michigan IlcI an Wisconsin Maryland land 49 New York YOl l Hawaii 1 Nevada 4 W Wyoming 1 13 Virginia 69 Yew few Mex Men MenIco Ico 2 Oregon Oreon IX 90 Mississippi 30 Illinois Ida Idaho 1 25 Minnesota l Texas Nort North j I Carolina 22 Utah 31 New Jer Jersey er 22 Pennsylvania Penn Penn- s sylvania v West Virginia 4 43 Geor Georgia la Ia 83 1 Louisiana Louisiana 40 46 Missouri Vermont 20 Tennessee Ten Ten- Tennessee 1 ness e 71 Kansas 1108 Indiana Connecticut Connects Connects- cut 74 A Alabama 65 05 Arizona 15 Maine 38 South Carolina 40 New Hampshire 37 7 Colorado Colorado Colo Colo- rad rado 64 There are el eight ht cemeteries In Europe which the Gold Sh Star r Mothers will wilt visit One One is In England one in Belgium Belgium and six nr are In France All Au lI l eight of these Se cemeteries have been heen laid out ut w with th skill Gr Gravel Grel el r rand and ond cement walks which were planned from the standpoint of or convenience con rind and art wind th their lr way through h each of ot them Marble headstones head head- h headstones ad- ad st stones nes mark every mery grave rave Trees flowers and shrubs contribute to the beauty and p peaceful atmosphere at- at I ere At each of the American cemeteries I there is la a car a World war veteran who by reason reason of ot his own experience Is able to meet tweet with proper understanding t those e who come to lt the graves raves Each cemetery cemetery t ry has its chapel and In nearly all aU th the hoste hostess s houses have been completed d. d l The Argonne Meuse eJ cemetery ry at Romagne ne near Verdun which Is the largest of al all t the e American cemeteries In Europe and hc wherein oIn American Amerl- Amerl can cun soldier dead are buried Is approximately miles by bl bus s from Paris A hostess J douse use Is main maln- tamed In this cemetery for tor th the convenience of t those visitors who desire to stay tay overnight or to remain several days In the the St St. St. St Mihiel cemetery 41 18 soldier dead lie He burled It Is located hear near the small town to of ot Thiaucourt urt whose population Is about 1200 In tb the department of the Aisne St. St l lel Is ap proximately 70 miles from Parts Paris 25 miles from Metz and 30 HO miles from flom Nancy The rhe Olse-AIsne Olse cemetery re American soldier dead are ure hurled burled Is In the he department of f the Aisne approximately 65 05 miles fro from rota In Paris Purls The rhe Marne Aisne-Marne cemetery where 2268 service men are burled Is located near tho the thov v village lla e of t Be Belleu leu department of the Aisne about G 6 miles from Chauteau and approximately 60 miles from Paris T The lE Flanders field cemetery In Belgium where American Amerlan soldier dead are burled buried Is ab about on onT t 25 miles s from Lute Lille v r- T The n Brookwood I d. d le roo WOO cemetery where whore of ot our sol sot Bier dead lie lle burled buried Is at Brookwood Su England only about 28 Surrey miles mUes from Ion London on Each Lach of ot these cemeteries s has been beep so developed that It has become an area aren of ot great ben beauty t and ami d Is so cared cured for as s to constitute a continuing of ot the proof t coun country's ry s appreciation of ot the services set 1 v ces ot of those who lie Ue burled buried there