There are no medal rolls for those medals that I know of. However, there was a book published at that time that listed mothers and widows entitled to go on the 1930 Pilgrimage (or later). If you do not have the name of the mother, widow or deceased vet. to go on, it is a dead end.

 

The Wharfmaster

 

 

 

 

In Peace and War. US Merchant Marine.

 

 

What is the name of the book which lists the mothers and widows entitled to go on the 1930 Pilgrimage (or later)? Does anyone know where I can obtain a copy?

The full title is "Pilgrimage for the Mothers and Widows of Soldiers, Sailors and Marines of the American Forces Now Interred in the Cemeteries of Europe," United States Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1930. You can sometimes find copies on eBay or through used book websites. Your library might have a copy, the Dewey call number for it is D369.D4U51929b. In my experience you have a one in three chance of not finding your mother's/widow's name in the list because eligibility changed over the course of the pilgrimages (1930-33). The original list was compiled by the War Department and published by the GPO as required by the statute which authorized the program. It was published/printed in early 1930 and, to my knowledge, never amended although the WD pamphlet which contained the eligibility requirements for mothers/widows was amended to include the new categories of women as they became eligible. For example, one category of mothers/widows who were excluded originally included women who had previously visited their son's/husband's/daughter's grave at their own expense. Another category excluded was women whose sons/husbands had no known grave (MIA, lost at sea, etc.)

 

What is the name of the book which lists the mothers and widows entitled to go on the 1930 Pilgrimage (or later)? Does anyone know where I can obtain a copy?

 

The 1930 Pilgrimage is found on Ancestry too.

 

 

 

Wharf
​

Perhaps the following will help. It is taken from the Planchet Newsletter

 

THE GOLD STAR PILGRIMAGE AND ITS MEDALS

 

It used to be customary in this country to wear a black band on the left arm to signify mourning for the death of a loved one. During the First World War the Women’s Committee of the Council of National Defense recommended that in addition to this traditional “mourning band” women should include a gold star on the band for each member of their family who had died while in the Service. On May 28, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson approved this recommendation, and service flags were displayed that bore a blue star for each member who was alive in the Service and a gold star for each member who had died while in the Service. It was from this origin that the “Gold Star” and “Gold Star Mothers” emerged.

 

The Gold Star Mothers

 

On June 24, 1928, twenty-five “Gold Star Mothers” in the Washington D.C. area met to form a non-denominational, non-profit organization. They were incorporated under the laws of Washington D.C. on January 5, 1929 as the American Gold Star Mothers, Inc. On June 23, 1936, the President of the United States issued a proclamation calling upon “Government officials to display the United States flag on all Government buildings, and the people of the United States to display the flag and to hold appropriate meetings in their homes, churches, and other suitable places, on the last Sunday in September, as public expression of the love, sorrow and reverence of the people of the United States for the American Gold Star Mothers.” Over the years the organization has grown, and on June 12, 1984 it was chartered by Congress. It remains an organization of women whose sons or daughters died while serving in the Armed Forces of the United States.

 

Caring for the Dead: The World War I Experience

 

Caring for soldiers killed in combat can present difficult challenges. Combat deaths typically occur during the “fog of battle” when care for the dead cannot always be the highest priority. However, when a soldier is killed he must be removed from the active rolls, appropriate notifications must be made, and the body must preserved in such a fashion so it can be identified later and moved for permanent burial. In the case of men killed overseas, the question of whether they should be returned to the United States or buried abroad must be dealt with. During the First World War when a soldier was killed in action or died from other causes it was the responsibility of his unit to make immediate disposition of the body. Most of the dead were buried within twenty-four hours (although, depending on conditions, burial could take much longer). Combat dead were not enbalmed, and no special measures were taken to assure preservation of the bodies. The key task was to make sure the bodies were buried and that the graves were properly marked so the bodies could be recovered at a later date. The aluminum dog tag introduced in 1917 was an important step in providing a means for identifying men who were killed in combat and who had been hastily buried.

 

Graves Registration

 

On August 7, 1917, War Department General Orders Number 104 established a Graves Registration Service (GRS), and the first Graves Registration unit arrived in France on October 31, 1917. This new activity was placed under the command of Colonel Charles C. Pierce, who had served as an Army Chaplain during the 1880s and 1890s. During the Spanish-American War he was in charge of the Office of Identification and the Army morgue in Manila and was directly responsible for developing techniques for identifying war dead and maintaining mortuary records. He retired from active duty in 1908 but was recalled for service in World War I, when he was appointed as Chief of the Quartermaster Graves Registration Service.[1] The Graves Registration Service was headquartered at Tours, France, and 19 Graves Registration companies were sent to every combat zone of the war. Graves Registration personnel were responsible for locating these graves and removing the bodies for consolidation in an American cemetery. They often worked under combat conditions, braving machine-gun fire, artillery, and poison gas to recover remains of the fallen. By the end of the war a total of eight permanent cemeteries had been established: six in France, and one each in Belgium and England. Graves Registration continued its work until the Summer of 1919. After the war the Quartermaster General asked each family what its wishes were for the final disposition of the bodies of their loved ones. Their options were to leave the body in an American cemetery in Europe; to have it returned to the United States for burial in a local, non-military cemetery; or to have the body returned to the United States for burial in a National Cemetery. About 47,000 bodies were returned to the United States, but about 30,000 remained in cemeteries in Europe.[2]

 

Graves Registration Records in the National Archives

 

In every case the GRS prepared a Report of Disinterment and Reburial. These reports contain information on where the soldier was originally buried and where his final resting place was. Since most of the bodies were badly (or completely) decomposed, identification was normally made through dental records, identification tags, and grave markers. The remains were largely unidentifiable, and they were not photographed when they were disinterred. Records Group 92 in the National Archives (Archives II at College Park, Maryland) contains the records of the Graves Registration Service. The files are arranged alphabetically under the name of the deceased. In those cases where a Gold Star mother or widow made a pilgrimage, the full report of the pilgrimage is filed with the deceased soldier’s record.

 

The Gold Star Pilgrimage

 

Since almost 40 percent of the war dead remained in Europe, most of their wives and mothers had no opportunity to view their graves or pay their last respects; for many, this lack of closure was a terrible burden. During the 1920s the Gold Star Mothers petitioned Congress for a federally sponsored pilgrimage for mothers who had lost sons. Interestingly, the feelings of widows and the fathers of the dead were considered of secondary importance to the emotional needs of the Gold Star mothers, and this ultimately produced some difficult circumstances. On March 2, 1929 Congress passed legislation authorizing the Secretary of War to arrange pilgrimages to European cemeteries for “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 to mothers and widows whose men died and were buried at sea or who died at sea or overseas and whose places of burial were unknown. The Quartermaster General determined that 17,389 women were eligible for making this pilgrimage.[3] The Government paid all expenses for the trip and made all of the arrangements; however, the Act of March 2, 1929, did not contain any provision for any other members of the family to make the trip except the mother or unmarried widow, nor did it permit the mother or widow to be accompanied by any member of the family. In other words, the fathers and children of the deceased soldiers could not accompany them. Since the average age of the Gold Star mothers was about 63, the trip was both psychologically and physically stressful for them.

 

After the Quartermaster determined that a woman was eligible for a pilgrimage, she was sent a questionnaire. If the mother or widow accepted the Government’s offer, she was provided with detailed instructions on what to do and what to expect. Each trip lasted approximately two weeks, and each trip was carefully planned and flawlessly executed. Great care was taken to accommodate the women: they were provided with transportation, meals, accommodations, interpreters and an itinerary that gave them the opportunity to see where their loved ones fought, died, and were buried. There was one accommodation, however, that the Government would not make: the pilgrimage groups were segregated by race. Black women were not sent on pilgrimages with white women but were placed in separate pilgrimage groups. The white women went in luxury liners, while black women went in commercial steamers.

 

The pilgrimages were carefully organized and coordinated with a variety of French organizations, including the French Foreign Office, customs, the Ministry of War, the Administration of Public Hygiene and Assistance, and even the French postal authorities. The itineraries were carefully prepared and arranged to make the most of the time available to the women and every possible effort was made to assure a pleasant and problem-free trip. The Army Quartermaster Corps made all travel arrangements from the woman’s departure from her home to her return and provided them in advance with the dates and times of their travel - to include seating assignments on trains and ships and rooms in hotels.

 

The pilgrims traveled as part of a group, and each group was assigned a letter of the alphabet. When the ships transporting the pilgrims arrived in France they were met by American officials and staff members, including nurses. Each group selected an “honor pilgrim” who placed a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The women were provided with opportunities to visit important sites as well as battle areas and the cemeteries where their loved ones were buried. Each woman was given a special identity card stating that she was “in France to visit the grave of her [son] who lost his life in the World War.” The identity card, illustrated below, asked that “You are requested to give her aid or assistance of needed.”

 

 

Gold Star Medals

 

There are two medals associated with the Gold Star Mothers. The first is the Pilgrimage Medal, which was made by Bailey, Banks and Biddle. This is a small bronze medal finished in gilt. In the center it contains a gold star surrounded by the inscription, PILGRIMAGE OF MOTHERS AND WIDOWS. This central theme is enclosed within a wreath of oak (to the right) and laurel (to the left) which rise from the bottom of the medal until they reach draped United States flags surmounted by the Great Seal of the United States. The reverse is plain except for the medal’s number (impressed at the bottom) and the maker’s hallmark (impressed at the top). The medal is suspended from a red / white / blue ribbon which hangs from a pinbar containing the pilgrim’s name and the State from which she came.

 

The second medal is one and a half inches in diameter and on its obverse shows an ocean liner sailing from the United States (represented by the Statue of Liberty to the right) to France (represented by the Eiffel Tower (to the left). The medal is bronze, but at the top of the obverse is a gold star. The reverse bears the inscription, GOLD STAR / PILGRIMAGE / TO THE / BATTLEFIELDS / OF / THE WORLD WAR above the logo of the United States Lines, which surmounts a bed if ivy. The medal is numbered in the 6:00 o’clock position and is suspended from a narrow red / white / blue ribbon. This medallion was accompanied by a certificate

[1] Colonel Pierce was awarded Army Distinguished Service Medal #463 under War Department General Orders No. 59 (1919) for his service as Chief of the Graves Registration Service in France.

 

[2] The American Battle Monuments Commission was created by Congress in 1923 to administer, operate, and maintain permanent American burial grounds, memorials, monuments, and markers on foreign soil.

 

[3] This project ended on October 31, 1933, but by that time 6,693 women or almost 39% of all those eligible had made a Gold Star pilgrimage.

THE GOLD STAR PILGRIMAGE AND ITS MEDALS

 

It used to be customary in this country to wear a black band on the left arm to signify mourning for the death of a loved one. During the First World War the Women’s Committee of the Council of National Defense recommended that in addition to this traditional “mourning band” women should include a gold star on the band for each member of their family who had died while in the Service. On May 28, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson approved this recommendation, and service flags were displayed that bore a blue star for each member who was alive in the Service and a gold star for each member who had died while in the Service. It was from this origin that the “Gold Star” and “Gold Star Mothers” emerged.

 

The Gold Star Mothers

 

On June 24, 1928, twenty-five “Gold Star Mothers” in the Washington D.C. area met to form a non-denominational, non-profit organization. They were incorporated under the laws of Washington D.C. on January 5, 1929 as the American Gold Star Mothers, Inc. On June 23, 1936, the President of the United States issued a proclamation calling upon “Government officials to display the United States flag on all Government buildings, and the people of the United States to display the flag and to hold appropriate meetings in their homes, churches, and other suitable places, on the last Sunday in September, as public expression of the love, sorrow and reverence of the people of the United States for the American Gold Star Mothers.” Over the years the organization has grown, and on June 12, 1984 it was chartered by Congress. It remains an organization of women whose sons or daughters died while serving in the Armed Forces of the United States.

 

Caring for the Dead: The World War I Experience

 

Caring for soldiers killed in combat can present difficult challenges. Combat deaths typically occur during the “fog of battle” when care for the dead cannot always be the highest priority. However, when a soldier is killed he must be removed from the active rolls, appropriate notifications must be made, and the body must preserved in such a fashion so it can be identified later and moved for permanent burial. In the case of men killed overseas, the question of whether they should be returned to the United States or buried abroad must be dealt with. During the First World War when a soldier was killed in action or died from other causes it was the responsibility of his unit to make immediate disposition of the body. Most of the dead were buried within twenty-four hours (although, depending on conditions, burial could take much longer). Combat dead were not enbalmed, and no special measures were taken to assure preservation of the bodies. The key task was to make sure the bodies were buried and that the graves were properly marked so the bodies could be recovered at a later date. The aluminum dog tag introduced in 1917 was an important step in providing a means for identifying men who were killed in combat and who had been hastily buried.

 

Graves Registration

 

On August 7, 1917, War Department General Orders Number 104 established a Graves Registration Service (GRS), and the first Graves Registration unit arrived in France on October 31, 1917. This new activity was placed under the command of Colonel Charles C. Pierce, who had served as an Army Chaplain during the 1880s and 1890s. During the Spanish-American War he was in charge of the Office of Identification and the Army morgue in Manila and was directly responsible for developing techniques for identifying war dead and maintaining mortuary records. He retired from active duty in 1908 but was recalled for service in World War I, when he was appointed as Chief of the Quartermaster Graves Registration Service.[1] The Graves Registration Service was headquartered at Tours, France, and 19 Graves Registration companies were sent to every combat zone of the war. Graves Registration personnel were responsible for locating these graves and removing the bodies for consolidation in an American cemetery. They often worked under combat conditions, braving machine-gun fire, artillery, and poison gas to recover remains of the fallen. By the end of the war a total of eight permanent cemeteries had been established: six in France, and one each in Belgium and England. Graves Registration continued its work until the Summer of 1919. After the war the Quartermaster General asked each family what its wishes were for the final disposition of the bodies of their loved ones. Their options were to leave the body in an American cemetery in Europe; to have it returned to the United States for burial in a local, non-military cemetery; or to have the body returned to the United States for burial in a National Cemetery. About 47,000 bodies were returned to the United States, but about 30,000 remained in cemeteries in Europe.[2]

 

Graves Registration Records in the National Archives

 

In every case the GRS prepared a Report of Disinterment and Reburial. These reports contain information on where the soldier was originally buried and where his final resting place was. Since most of the bodies were badly (or completely) decomposed, identification was normally made through dental records, identification tags, and grave markers. The remains were largely unidentifiable, and they were not photographed when they were disinterred. Records Group 92 in the National Archives (Archives II at College Park, Maryland) contains the records of the Graves Registration Service. The files are arranged alphabetically under the name of the deceased. In those cases where a Gold Star mother or widow made a pilgrimage, the full report of the pilgrimage is filed with the deceased soldier’s record.

 

The Gold Star Pilgrimage

 

Since almost 40 percent of the war dead remained in Europe, most of their wives and mothers had no opportunity to view their graves or pay their last respects; for many, this lack of closure was a terrible burden. During the 1920s the Gold Star Mothers petitioned Congress for a federally sponsored pilgrimage for mothers who had lost sons. Interestingly, the feelings of widows and the fathers of the dead were considered of secondary importance to the emotional needs of the Gold Star mothers, and this ultimately produced some difficult circumstances. On March 2, 1929 Congress passed legislation authorizing the Secretary of War to arrange pilgrimages to European cemeteries for “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 to mothers and widows whose men died and were buried at sea or who died at sea or overseas and whose places of burial were unknown. The Quartermaster General determined that 17,389 women were eligible for making this pilgrimage.[3] The Government paid all expenses for the trip and made all of the arrangements; however, the Act of March 2, 1929, did not contain any provision for any other members of the family to make the trip except the mother or unmarried widow, nor did it permit the mother or widow to be accompanied by any member of the family. In other words, the fathers and children of the deceased soldiers could not accompany them. Since the average age of the Gold Star mothers was about 63, the trip was both psychologically and physically stressful for them.

 

After the Quartermaster determined that a woman was eligible for a pilgrimage, she was sent a questionnaire. If the mother or widow accepted the Government’s offer, she was provided with detailed instructions on what to do and what to expect. Each trip lasted approximately two weeks, and each trip was carefully planned and flawlessly executed. Great care was taken to accommodate the women: they were provided with transportation, meals, accommodations, interpreters and an itinerary that gave them the opportunity to see where their loved ones fought, died, and were buried. There was one accommodation, however, that the Government would not make: the pilgrimage groups were segregated by race. Black women were not sent on pilgrimages with white women but were placed in separate pilgrimage groups. The white women went in luxury liners, while black women went in commercial steamers.

 

The pilgrimages were carefully organized and coordinated with a variety of French organizations, including the French Foreign Office, customs, the Ministry of War, the Administration of Public Hygiene and Assistance, and even the French postal authorities. The itineraries were carefully prepared and arranged to make the most of the time available to the women and every possible effort was made to assure a pleasant and problem-free trip. The Army Quartermaster Corps made all travel arrangements from the woman’s departure from her home to her return and provided them in advance with the dates and times of their travel - to include seating assignments on trains and ships and rooms in hotels.

 

The pilgrims traveled as part of a group, and each group was assigned a letter of the alphabet. When the ships transporting the pilgrims arrived in France they were met by American officials and staff members, including nurses. Each group selected an “honor pilgrim” who placed a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The women were provided with opportunities to visit important sites as well as battle areas and the cemeteries where their loved ones were buried. Each woman was given a special identity card stating that she was “in France to visit the grave of her [son] who lost his life in the World War.” The identity card, illustrated below, asked that “You are requested to give her aid or assistance of needed.”

 

 

Gold Star Medals

 

There are two medals associated with the Gold Star Mothers. The first is the Pilgrimage Medal, which was made by Bailey, Banks and Biddle. This is a small bronze medal finished in gilt. In the center it contains a gold star surrounded by the inscription, PILGRIMAGE OF MOTHERS AND WIDOWS. This central theme is enclosed within a wreath of oak (to the right) and laurel (to the left) which rise from the bottom of the medal until they reach draped United States flags surmounted by the Great Seal of the United States. The reverse is plain except for the medal’s number (impressed at the bottom) and the maker’s hallmark (impressed at the top). The medal is suspended from a red / white / blue ribbon which hangs from a pinbar containing the pilgrim’s name and the State from which she came.

 

The second medal is one and a half inches in diameter and on its obverse shows an ocean liner sailing from the United States (represented by the Statue of Liberty to the right) to France (represented by the Eiffel Tower (to the left). The medal is bronze, but at the top of the obverse is a gold star. The reverse bears the inscription, GOLD STAR / PILGRIMAGE / TO THE / BATTLEFIELDS / OF / THE WORLD WAR above the logo of the United States Lines, which surmounts a bed if ivy. The medal is numbered in the 6:00 o’clock position and is suspended from a narrow red / white / blue ribbon. This medallion was accompanied by a certificate

 

[1] Colonel Pierce was awarded Army Distinguished Service Medal #463 under War Department General Orders No. 59 (1919) for his service as Chief of the Graves Registration Service in France.

 

[2] The American Battle Monuments Commission was created by Congress in 1923 to administer, operate, and maintain permanent American burial grounds, memorials, monuments, and markers on foreign soil.

 

[3] This project ended on October 31, 1933, but by that time 6,693 women or almost 39% of all those eligible had made a Gold Star pilgrimage.

Thank you 3mxd, Wharfmaster and Foxfall.

Is there a list with the names of the Gold Star Recipients?  Does it not correspond to the number on the reverse of the Bailey Banks and Biddle medal?

On 3/17/2017 at 9:19 AM, 3mxd said:

The full title is "Pilgrimage for the Mothers and Widows of Soldiers, Sailors and Marines of the American Forces Now Interred in the Cemeteries of Europe," United States Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1930. You can sometimes find copies on eBay or through used book websites. Your library might have a copy, the Dewey call number for it is D369.D4U51929b. In my experience you have a one in three chance of not finding your mother's/widow's name in the list because eligibility changed over the course of the pilgrimages (1930-33). The original list was compiled by the War Department and published by the GPO as required by the statute which authorized the program. It was published/printed in early 1930 and, to my knowledge, never amended although the WD pamphlet which contained the eligibility requirements for mothers/widows was amended to include the new categories of women as they became eligible. For example, one category of mothers/widows who were excluded originally included women who had previously visited their son's/husband's/daughter's grave at their own expense. Another category excluded was women whose sons/husbands had no known grave (MIA, lost at sea, etc.)

 

 

VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY HAS COPIES AVAILIABLE ON THE INTERNET FOR VIEWING.

There is no list/roll of all the Pilgrims with the associated serial number of their Pilgrimage identification badges (the "medal" manufactured by BB&B was referred to by the WD as a "badge;" a printed slip which came in the box with each read "Wear this badge at all times.") They were issued long after the War Department stopped recording such information in 1925. The WD records in the National Archives which cover the program do have some lists of serial numbers for blank spares the Conducting Officers could issue to Pilgrims who may have lost their badges. If the broach with the Pilgrim's name/state is missing from the badge, the only other way to positively identify the Pilgrim is by the black WD identification booklet which each Pilgrim received along with the badge. The booklet contains the serial number of the badge along with the woman's name and passport photo. This booklet is often incorrectly confused with the Pilgrim's State Department-issued no-fee/"official" passport which had a red cover and a completely separate serial number.

Thanks for your input.  Any information is helpful.

Hello,

 

I recently purchased the Mothers and Widow Pilgrimage medal (?).  Its not really a medal, but more like a name tag.  I have one with the name/state already, but this one has the state of Missouri instead.  The actual medal is the same with the number on the reverse.  Has one heard or seen of this before?  Photo below:

The piece on the left is an authentic Pilgrim's identification badge to Elizabeth  Tetley, the step-mother of 2nd Lt Egbert F. Tetley, Co C, 47th Inf, 4th Div, KIA 10 Aug 1918. She was from North Chelmsford, Middlesex County, MA. I'm not sure what the piece on the right is, I've never seen/heard of one like before. The pendant on it appears to be a copy of an authentic one but the image you provided is too blurry to say for sure. Also, I'm not sure by what you mean when you say "the actual medal is the same with the number on the reverse." Do you mean the pendant on the left has a serial number but the pendant on the right does not? Perhaps the one on the right was used for some patriotic event associated with Missouri. The one on the right is certainly not official and the ribbon is incorrectly reversed, the blue stripe should be on the left, red on the right.

Some info on Mr. Tetley from Brown University's Memorial Page:

"Egbert Foster Tetley, class of 1916, former English instructor at Brown University, Lieutenant in Co. C., 47th Infantry, was killed in action, during an attack on machine gun nests at Bayoches, France on August 10th, 1918. After Lieutenant Tetley was wounded he lay and smoked a cigarette while waiting for the stretcher bearers. As he was being lifted upon the stretcher, he was hit again, all along the side by machine gun bullets. When asked by one of the men near him what they should do, he told them to “Stick to the last” and died shortly thereafter."

The actual medal portion is the same maker and numbered.  I wonder if it was a replacement ribbon and top portion.  Sorry for the photo 3 times.