Texas Gold Star Mothers
& Widows
AMERICAN GOLD
STAR MOTHERS
2128 LeRoy Place, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Founded 1928
Natural mothers whose sons or daughters died in the line of duty in the
armed forces during World Wars I and II, the Korean Conflict, the
Vietnam hostilities, or in other strategic areas.
MARCH 1929
Eleven
years after World War I, the United States Congress passed a law
authorizing the use of government funds to pay for mothers and
widows to visit the burial site on the battlefields of fallen
soldiers in
Europe. The program honoring "Gold Star" mothers and widows was
entrusted to the Quartermaster Corps for proper and faithful execution.
Texas Gold Star Mothers & Widows
Pilgrimage
FEBRUARY
7, 1930
In
the Red Room of the White House, Mrs. Lou Henry Hoover, the President's
wife, reached into a large silver bowl which contained 54
unsealed envelopes, each containing a card with the name of a state or
overseas territory. The first state picked was NEBRASKA. The card was
immediately given to the Quartermaster General.
OCTOBER
31, 1933
This
unpresidented pilgrimage for mothers and widows of members of the
military and naval forces of the United States who died in the
line of service between April 15. 1917 and July 1, 1921 ended with the
return of the S.S.Washington. The United States Congress estended
the pilgrimage eligibility to mothers and widows of men who died at sea
and were buried at sea or who had died at sea or overseas and whose
place of burial was unknown.
Members of the Denison Chapter of the
Gold Star Mothers at Perrin Air Force Base
June 1952
The Denison Press
Friday, January 5, 1951
pg 4
Mrs. Jones Named President Gold Star Mothers
Mrs. Monte B. Jones was re-elected president of the local chapter of
the American Gold Star Mothers, Inc., at a called meeting of the
organization Friday evening in the home of Mrs. J. A. Braswell, 1105 W.
Chestnut.
Other officers named for 1951 were Mrs. Flossie Lively, 1st
vice-president; Mrs. Minnie Rucker, 2nd vice-president; Mrs. Irene
Sullivan, chaplain; Mrs. Braswell, treasurer; Mrs. Charles Hunter,
secretary; Mrs. Belle Brodie, color bearer; Mrs. Eunice Johnson,
sergeant at arms; Mrs. Ruth Duckett, custodian of records; Mrs. Mary
Wright, historian, and Mrs. Della Morgan, reporter.
Mrs. Braswell was assisted in entertaining by Mrs. Erna Russell and Mrs. Sullivan.
The Denison Press
Friday, June 1, 1951
pg 1
Gold Star Mothers
of Two Wars Meet
On Memorial Day
Two Gold Star mothers, one from World War I and the other from World
War II, representing the heartbreak and grief of thousands of others
whose sacrifices have bridged the intervening thirty years, met for the
first time at Fairview cemetery Memorial Day as they places wreaths
upon the monuments of their dead sons.
The mothers were Mrs. Fred W. Wilson, Sr., and Mrs. G. P. Pattillo,
whose sons were the first home causalities in World Wars I and II, and
for whome the local post of the American Legion was named.
Mrs. Wilson, 818 W. Gandy, is the widowed mother of Fred W. Wilson, Jr.
(Fritz to his friends), who went down on the U.S.S. Lincoln May 31,
1917. Mrs. Pattillo, 606 1/2 Chestnut, is the mother of Lieut. Sam
Pattillo, awarded the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously, who, as
acting navigator on the leading ship of a flight of B-17s, was shot
down on Feb. 8, 1942, in the first known head-on attack by enemy planes
in World War II, in Maaling, Java.
The coincidental meeting of the mothers followed memorial services held
earlier in Forest Park, when Carey L. Anderson and other members of the
Legion and Auxiliary took wreaths to place upon the monuments of the
two men for whom the post is named. They escorted Mrs. Pattillo to the
grave of another son, Pat Yoakum, where she placed the wreath in honor
of Sam. She went with them to the Wilson monument, where they found
Mrs. Wilson, and her daughter, Miss Caddie Wilson. Tears choked the
throats of those who witnessed the introduction, as Mrs. Wilson and
Mrs. Pattillo, whose grief has mellowed with the passing years, clasped
hands.
Denison Herald
July 25, 1972
Gold Star Mothers Have Chapter Here
The local chapter of the American Gold Star Mothers, Inc. was organized
on Dec. 7, 1948, shortly after the close of World War II.
Fifteen charter members began the Chapter with Mrs. Jennie June Jackson
of Dallas and Mrs. Fay Killingsworth of Denison instrumental in the
organization of the group.
Charter members included Mmes. Cora Hunt, who was the first president,
Amba Bailey, Bonnie Braswell, Lillian Marvin, Mary Wright, Minnie
Rucker, Ruby Angel, Irene Sullivan, Flossie Lively, Erna Russell,
Willie Sharp, Eunice Johnson, Belle Brodie, Lula Patillo and
Della Morgan.
Organizations
Elaine Nall Bay
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