NOTE TO COFFEE COUSINS; Arthur was the grandson of William James and Nancy (Wolff) James of Moniteau, Morgan & Camden Counties in Missouri, from whom our John Coffee also descends. His parents were: John William Hibdon (1856-1926) and Sarah (James) Hibdon (1860-1945). Arthur was the fifth of their ten children. He is my maternal first cousin--three times removed.
At age 70, Arthur's mom was contacted by the U.S. Army about traveling to Europe with other to visit her son's grave. She declined, but her name is listed in the 1930 database: U.S. World War I Mothers' Pilgrimage, Mrs. Sarah M. Hibdon of Barnett, Morgan County, Missouri. Are you familiar with the Mothers' Pilgrimage? Another name given is The Gold Star Mother Pilgrimages of the 1930s.
This from the National Archives' "Prologue Magazine" -- 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.
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