Editorial: Seeking a mother’s peace

Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2005 | 8:41 a.m.

No woman hopes to be eligible for membership in the American Gold Star Mothers. The admission price is to have one's child die while serving in the U.S. military.

The underpinnings for the nonprofit American Gold Star Mothers began in 1918 when the personal effects of a young pilot killed in World War I were delivered to his parents' doorstep on Christmas Eve without any other information. His mother, Grace Seibold, made regular visits to hospitalized veterans, hoping that her son might be among the unidentified wounded.

Seibold organized mothers of other fallen soldiers, and they eased their own sorrows by helping others. Their group is named for the gold stars that were hung in the family homes of the war dead. The group, which counted 22,000 members at its peak following World War II, now consists of about 1,000 mothers. Most are in their late 70s or older.

But according to a recent Newhouse News Service report, recent controversies have shaken this graying group of grievers. Earlier this year, the group denied membership to a Filipino woman whose son was killed in Iraq because she was not a U.S. citizen. That policy has since been rescinded. But the national criticism dumped on these mothers was so heavy that they needed an escort to protect them from hecklers at a candlelight vigil at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The mothers' group also received an estimated 20,000 hate-filled e-mails and telephone messages from those mistaking it for Gold Star Families for Peace, a group founded by Cindy Sheehan. Sheehan, whose son died in Iraq, became the face of the anti-war movement when she camped outside President Bush's Texas ranch earlier this year.

It is an American right to protest a bad policy or unjust war. But it is inappropriate to heap vitriol and disrespect on the aging mothers whose children have died in defense of this country. Attacking these women as they sought to attend a ceremony at a war memorial is beyond comprehension and decency.