American Gold Star Mothers day, Inc. (AGSM), is a private non-profit organization for American mothers who have lost their sons or daughters in the service of the United States Armed Forces. Originally formed in 1928 for the mothers of those who lost in World War I, it has a letter to Congress under Title 36 § 211 of the United States Code. Its name comes from the custom of the families of soldiers who hang a poster called the Flag of Service in the windows of their homes. The service flag was a star for every member of the family in the military. Living soldiers are represented by a blue star, and those who lost their lives in combat are represented by a gold star.
Membership in the organization is open to any U.S. citizen or legal resident who has lost a son or daughter on active duty in the U.S. military (regardless of where or when military service is performed, regardless of whether or not the circumstances of death did or did not involve hostile conflict, including mothers Lost in Action).
Origin of Gold Star Mother’s Day 2021
Gold Star Mother’s day was founded by Grace Darling Siebold of Washington, DC.
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, 23-year-old George von Siebold volunteered and applied for a flying mission. They sent him to Canada where he learned to fly British aircraft because the United States had neither an air force nor aircraft. Deployed to England, he was assigned to the Royal British Flying Corps with the 148th Flying Squadron. With his division, he left to fight in France. He used to communicate with his family regularly. His mother, Grace Darling Siebold, began performing community service by visiting returning military personnel to hospitals. Re-mail George stopped. Since all of the pilots were under British control and authority, the United States was unable to assist the Seybold family with any information about their son.
Grace continued to visit the veterans at the hospital in the Washington area, clinging to the hope that her son might have been injured and returned to the United States without any identity. As he worked through his pain, he helped ease the pain of many soldiers who had returned so damaged by the war that they were unable to return to normal life.
But on October 11, 1918, George’s wife in Chicago received a box with “relics of the late First Lieutenant George von Siebold”. Seibolds also received confirmation of George’s death on November 4 from a relative in Paris. George’s body has not been identified.
Convinced that self-contained pain is destroying herself, Grace has devoted her time and efforts not only to working in the hospital, but also to supporting other mothers whose children have lost their lives in military service. I organized a group made only of these mothers, not only to please one another, but to provide loving care to hospital veterans who are being held in government hospitals far from home. The organization was named after the golden star that families hung in their windows to honor the deceased veteran. After years of planning, twenty-five mothers gathered in Washington, D.C. on June 4, 1928 to found the national organization, American Gold Star Mothers, Inc.