| Show A ii grimage I 1 r I 1 M K M 0 1 i idi i a r old ia tar mother MB fc 4 1 11 M 7 ve M M s Merw rial 0 1 at aries goldstab gold stay star mothers mother at tomb of unknown soldier 4 gy by ELMO SCOTT WATSON T A tUi tivi tills this year mar will be unique ab ln in the history ot of that aay day here ln in j america it will be observed in the jy manner familiar to all of us rut but over across the atlantic groups ot of Amer american icah women will visit the places where stand the crosses row on ro row W and there pay reverent tribute to Anie americas ricas soldier dead who sleep in foreign soil nut but this tribute will not be just a formal gesture by b a group to each one of these women it will be an intimate personal act of devotion for these women are americas gold cold star mothers and with loving hands they will lay flowers upon the graves of their sons so memorial day this year will be unique because of the pilgrimage of gold cold star mothers which has been arranged by the united states government the idea of tills this pilgrimage dates from march 2 when congress passed a bill authorizing an appropriation of more than 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 gov for a lilt visit to the place where their soldier dl e r dead are burled buried the war department was then directed to make the necessary preparations fo for the visits and and invitations ivere were sent ou out t to of these bonich of that number have accepted and they will be taken at various times tills this summer the remaining have been listed and may make the trip at convenient times between now and october the trip will be under the direction of the warp war department with the quartermaster corps in direct charge anti and every detail will be handled by army OfIl officers cers the quartermaster quaite corps has developed the american cemeteries in europe and Is responsible pon sible for their administration the graves ot of service ervice men burled abroad are in its charge it la is giving infinite care to the choice of the officers who are are to be responsible tor for all the gold star mothers who cross the seas and its one idea la Is that the women who go on this journey shall have bare everything aei i thing to 1 wake make them comfortable and happy it Is an immense project this taking women to a foreign country most bloat 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 tn in foreign lands among people who are strangers the war department has tried to think of every possible contingency and provide tor for it all the experience in planning military expeditions from food to passage has been used to work out arrangements range ments to the smallest detail and leeway is provided for those unexpected contingencies which they know always arise the difficult feature about this pilgrimage image Is that it Is unique there has never been anything like it so the war do department part ment has no experience to build its plans on it must estimate on vision and imagination to cover all possibilities they have figured on 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 ito ita purpose Is to take t those hose women who cannot go otherwise than its as guests of the government besides the actual expense expanse of transportation and care care of the mothers which adds up to this apiece there will be ba the salaries ot of an office force in new york yori and paris the mothers will be looked after by army ofil off leers cers from the moment they arrive in new york until they are put on board beard the train in new york fork again after they return from europe ervery mother who Is to go has ban received an engraved card inviting her in the name of the united states government to go on the pilgrim re so far only those have bein been asked who haye have 4 crual graves to visit I 1 legislation Is pending which w bouta 0 uld permit peral t those to go whose sons or Nias husbands band s wera were burled buried at sea or are among the abroad the women will go to new york whence nil all sal tailings lingg will be made arriving the day before salling sailing they will go in groups of salling calling once a week from may to october their fare will be paid from their thear homes to new york hut but they must come to new york without chaperonage froeb the government the war department has made the most careful arrangements arran gemenis with the various railroads however to see that the women get their tickets and the railroads are doing their bit by promising every aid even 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 now new york every railroad employed emp loye G 4 I 1 Z J 0 ra A 3 U 1 4 A 4 43 A I 1 ll 11 mn 4 5 vi wa Mern Xer novt ortaL al chapel at th ia couric from conductor to switchman will be instructed to took look after any doronn wearing that badge with I 1 the gold star and the 66 great seal of the unit united ed states on it the pilgrims will be met in new york by army off officers leers mostly captains used avd lieutenants who have been detailed led to stay with the groups the pilgrims will be housed in first class hotels nine dollars and fifty cents a day la 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 ibe day after they arrive and before they emi embark ark they will sail sall on american ships and so go first class clasa everything will be paid for or them from stewards to steamer rugs arrived in cherbourg Cher bourg the mothers will be met by officers who will conduct them to paris where they will stay two days the groups on tho the ships will be arranged by states and by cemeteries As they arrive they will be broken up into units of 25 earn each forming a busload from then on each unit will be ln 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 bourand Go corn manding the military district of paris wilt will put himself at their disposal there will be visits by groups to the grave of the unk unknown aown soldier and to the Sur suresnes esnes cemetery the arlington of ht france which is cai on the edge of paris i a place of surpassing beauty priests rabbis and protestant ministers willbe will be available american nurses will attend them and the doors of the ilie american hospital will swing owing open to any who need treatment not only will it be an immense project to take these mothers to europe but it was itri an almost equally stupendous task to search out the mothers of the american soldiers who are burled in prance france Delg belgium lurn and england mostly in prance 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 nest of aln in which was given by each man when he went into the army it wrote letters to the addresses given out of every sent forty came back unclaimed those who had been set down as next of kin had died or moved away or otherwise disappeared disappeared during the twelve or thirteen years that had passed since they were last heard from but CO 60 per cent of the next of kin letters brought answers of mothers of those who had died abroad less leas than half were still alive of wives of those who had died abroad there were many who had find married again and so sn became ineligible for the trip the number of widows who will make the trip strip Is small the mothers who responded to letters having been located the qua quartermaster corps went further in its search for the relatives of thase whose next of kin did not respond it operated through the veterans bureau because of insurance and compensation pensa tion that agency has ins been in touch with most of them yet there has been found only one mother or widow to about three men burled buried abroad 1130 out of the ships their days of sailing and the number of war mothers each wilt will carry are no as follows america may hay 7 may 13 1 may 14 14 ago washington Washingto yu may 21 M COX ai A W eperu et eru at PM roosevelt may 28 america tune june 4 harding june 14 roosevelt june 21 republic june 25 america july 2 harding july 9 washington july 23 republic july 20 america july 30 20 roosevelt Roo august 9 washington august 19 america august IT 27 republic august 30 many knotty problems have been met at every stage of the arrangements alth more mor ethan thim 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 1 the mothers from glen given localities could go together most would be likely to have hae frie filinda rids or acquaintances from the start star they would at least fe feel e I 1 more at home surrounded by other women from t their e r own state but what should be the order of their going from the different states in the end the matter was left to chance th the e names of the states were put in a basket and d drawn wn 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 tha names and the ceremony took place at the white house late last i 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 i xe ne branka 69 59 florida 37 delaware 5 kentucky 50 ohio arkansas 47 iowa montana 39 30 porto rico 1 oklahoma 88 south dakota 31 washington california rhode laland island 40 district of columbia 20 north dakota 59 michigan wisconsin maryland 49 now new york howell hawaii 1 nevada 4 wyoming 13 virginia 69 new mexico 2 oregon 00 mississippi 30 illinois idaho 25 minnesota texas north carolina utah 31 new jersey pennsylvania west virginia 43 georgia 83 louisiana 40 missouri vermont 20 tennessee 71 kansas indiana connecticut 74 alabama 0 arizona 15 maine 88 south carolina 40 new hampshire 37 colorado 04 64 there are eight cemeteries in europe which the tha gold cold star mothers will visit one Is in england one in belgium and six are in prance all tight 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 each of them marble headstones mark every grave trees flowers flowena and shrubs contribute to the beauty and peaceful atmosphere mo no at each beach of the american cemeteries there la Is a caretaker a world war veteran who by reason of his own experience la Is able to meet with proper understanding those who come to visit the graves each cemetery has its chapel and in nearly all the hostess houses house have been completed the meuse argonne cemetery at near verdun which to Is the largest of all the american cemeteries in eusope and wherein american soldier dead are burled Is approximately miles by bus from paris A hostess house Is in maintained in this cemetery for the tha convenience of those visitors who desire to stay overnight or to remain several days in n the st cc cemetery n faery soldier dead lie ile bu burled ried it to Is located locade d near near the small town of aucourt whose population Is about 1200 in the department of the alone st Is approximately 70 miles froni from perls paris 25 miles from metz and SO 80 miles from nancy the oise ainne aisne cemetery where american soldier dead are burled buried Is in the department of the ainne aisne approximately 03 miles from paris the ainne aisne marne cemetery where 2268 service men are burled buried Is located near the village of belleu department of the aland about 0 miles from chauteau thierry and approximately 60 miles from paris the flanders field cemetery in belgium where VA american soldier dead are burled buried la is about 25 miles from bille the brookwood cemetery where of our soldier dead lie ile burled buried Is at brookwood Brook woud surrey england only about 28 talles miles from london mach of these cemeteries has been so developed that it has become an area of great beauty and Is so BO cared tor for as to constitute ti a continuing proof of the count rys appreciation of the services ol 01 those who lie burled buried there |
