The Founding of American Gold Star Mothers, Inc.: A Story about Service, Sacrifice and Love

Founded in 1928 and Congressionally Chartered in 1984, American Gold Star Mothers began their mission of serving Veterans when the United States entered World War I in 1917

The Story of Our Founder – Grace Darling Seibold

Her Son – First Lieutenant George Vaughn Seibold

First Lieutenant George Vaughn Seibold, 23, volunteered for combat duty in France in 1917. He signed up with the United States Army Aviation Detachment of the Signal Corps. His mother, Grace Darling Seibold, began to perform community service by visiting servicemen at veteran hospitals in Washington, DC. He wrote to his mother religiously, filling her in on his journey into war.

First Lieutenant George Vaughn Seibold (left) and his mother, Grace Darling Seibold.

As George’s letters stopped coming to his family, Grace continued to visit hospitalized veterans, clinging to the hope that her son may have been injured and returned to the United States without identification.

On Christmas Eve, 1918, all hope was gone when a package arrived marked “Effects of Deceased Officer, First Lieutenant George Vaughn Seibold.” After months of inquiry, the family was informed that George had been killed in aerial combat over Bapaume, France on August 26, 1918. His body was never recovered.

Grace, realizing that self-contained grief is self-destructive, devoted her time and efforts not only working in veteran hospitals but extending the hand of friendship to other mothers whose sons had lost their lives in military service.

In 1918, a newspaper editorial in the Union Progress located in Union, South Carolina summed up the Nation’s gold star mother’s sentiment of wearing a symbol of mourning – a gold star on a black arm band that would be worn as a sign of a parent’s ultimate loss.

“What could be more appropriate or expressive than a Gold Star, representing as it would earth’s most precious treasure, the purest of substances from which all the dross of the world had been refined, the symbol of fame and immortality ‘as the stars that shine forever and ever?’… The wearing of a small gold star, or stars, as the case might be, would be a far more beautiful reminder of the life that has been given as a sacrifice, in the struggle to maintain Liberty, Justice and Truth throughout the world.”

On June 4, 1928, Grace Seibold organized a group consisting solely of 35 special mothers with the purpose of not only comforting each other but giving loving care to hospitalized veterans confined in hospitals far from home, thus the beginning of American Gold Star Mothers, Inc.

“Gold Star Mothers have learned that only in an organization that is exclusively Gold Star can they find their best opportunity for service.”
– Grace D. Seibold

The End of the Great War

Gold Star Pilgrimage medal and passport

On November 11, 1918, an agreement was made between the United States, their allies and Germany to end the war. Sadly, this was only three months after George Siebold’s ultimate sacrifice. The Great War included over 116,000 casualties and 200,000 wounded.

In the days of the Great War and still today, military mothers were the sole morale and spiritual manager of the family. From sending letters to caring for military wounded in hospitals, mothers found their strength through their mission to support their sons and their mission to protect and serve their country.

Gold Star Mothers’ Pilgrimage

During the 1920s, the Gold Star Mothers’ Association lobbied for a federally sponsored pilgrimage to Europe for mothers with sons buried overseas. Although many of the women who belonged to the organization had visited their sons’ graves, they realized that women often could not afford the trip to Europe. In their testimony, these women placed great emphasis on the bond between a mother and son. The bond between wife and husband seemed almost secondary in the congressional debates. The bond between fathers and sons was barely considered–the association maintained that the maternal bond surpassed that of the paternal bond.

In 1929 Congress enacted legislation that authorized the secretary of war to arrange for pilgrimages to the European cemeteries “by mothers and widows of members of military and naval forces of the United States who died in the service at any time between April 5, 1917, and July 1, 1921, and whose remains are now interred in such cemeteries.” Congress later extended eligibility for pilgrimages to mothers and widows of men who died and were buried at sea or who died at sea or overseas and whose places of burial were unknown. The Office of the Quartermaster General determined that 17,389 women were eligible. By October 31, 1933, when the project ended, 6,693 women had made the pilgrimage. Once the quartermaster determined a woman was eligible, she was sent a questionnaire.

Gold Star Pilgrimage group arriving at cemetery in France

The Gold Star Pilgrimage provided the chance for 6,693 women who might otherwise not have been able to visit their loved ones’ graves to travel to France. Some of the women wrote to the War Department thanking them for the trip.

(Note: The above excerpt is from articles by Constance Potter found in the National Archives, Summer 1999, Vol. 31, No. 2 | Genealogy Notes and Fall 1999, Vol. 31, No. 3 | Genealogy Notes)

African American Gold Star Pilgrimage group aboard ship en route to Europe.

American Gold Star Mothers’ Mission

With the founding of American Gold Star Mothers, Inc., we continue to find strength in the fellowship of other Gold Star Mothers who strive to keep the memory of our children alive by working to help veterans, those currently serving in the military, their families, and our communities.

We honor through Service

Across the nation, American Gold Star Mothers volunteer thousands of hours every year to support Veterans, active-duty military, their families, and our communities. We have partnered with local organizations to recognize Veterans, honor the Fallen, and educate the community about patriotism and the price of freedom. Our members include mothers whose children served in the Vietnam War and the Global War on Terrorism (Iraq & Afghanistan).

For more information on American Gold Star Mothers, visit the following sites:

American Gold Star Mothers, Inc.:
www.americangoldstarmothers.org

The National Archives:
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1999/summer/gold-star-mothers-1.html
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1999/fall/gold-star-mothers.html

Documenting Doughboys: Gold Star Pilgrimage Passports and Travel Documents for Alien Gold Star Pilgrims:
http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/commemorate/family-ties/documenting-doughboys/6787-gold-star-pilgrimage-passports-and-travel-documents-for-alien-gold-star-pilgrims.html

American Gold Star Mothers members in uniform present flags. The uniform consists of a white skirt, white shirt, and a white blazer, with a gold star embroidered on either lapel, and gold piping on the sleeve cuffs, and collars, and white shoes, with a white cap, similar to a women’s service hat, with gold piping. This uniform is worn at all parades, meetings, and social functions connected with the military.

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