Gold Star Mothers

Gold Star Mothers are mothers whose sons or daughters died in the line of duty in the Armed Forces of the United States or its Allies, starting with World War I. Upon the death of their soldier, a gold star replaced the blue star families displayed to show they had a soldier overseas. 

In the late 1920’s, the War Department of the United States compiled a list of mothers and widows of WWI soldiers killed and buried in Europe and offered to take them to their loved ones’ graves. Between 1930 and 1933, 6,000 women traveled on these “Gold Star Mother Pilgrimages”. A rare act of public support for private grief, the trips were entirely planned and paid for by the U.S. Army. 

Lydia Harriett Smith Dalrymple, “Grandma Dalrymple,” went to France as a Gold Star Mother to visit the grave of her son, Henry Homer Dalrymple, who she raised in Linton, near Benton, LA. Homer perished in World War I and was buried at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France in 1917.

 2002.004.055 Photo of “Grandma Dalrymple” with Harry Gray
and Della Sorrell Gray Lane.

2002.004.055 Photo of Henry Homer Dalrymple (1892-1918)