Gold Star Mothers Carrie Farley, left, Jennifer Jackman, Mona Gunn, and Joyce Paulsen visited France in mid-May to collect soil for the restoration of the Sacred Soil Marker, a World War I memorial that was all but lost to history for nearly a century. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
NEAR FISMES, France — Soil collected from six World War I battlefields in France will soon be brought to Arlington National Cemetery, restoring a memorial that disappeared from the hallowed U.S. military burial ground nearly a century ago.
Gathering the soil for the memorial brought five American Gold Star mothers across northern and eastern France over the past week, retracing battlefields and cemeteries tied to some of the war’s bloodiest fighting involving U.S. troops.
Earth from each of the sites was originally sealed inside the Sacred Soil Marker, designed in the 1920s by French World War I veteran and sculptor Gaston Deblaize to provide a tangible remembrance for families of service members who died in the war.
Deblaize sent the monument to the United States in 1929 as a gesture of gratitude for American forces who helped turn the tide of World War I. It was installed at Arlington, while similar versions were erected in France.
But the U.S. monument did not last long. After less than a decade, it deteriorated from exposure to the elements and was removed in 1938, gradually fading from public awareness.
Gold Star Mothers Teresa Bullock, left, Joyce Paulsen, Mona Gunn, Jennifer Jackman and Carrie Farley stand for the National Anthem at Oise-Aisne American Cemetery in France on May 16, 2026. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Frederic Drujon of the Croix de Guerre association signs soil samples collected in Belleau Wood, France, with Ryan Hegg of the United War Veterans Council. The samples must be sterilized before entering the United States to prevent any pathogens from spreading. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Gold Star Mother Mona Gunn helps lower the flag at the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery in France with superintendent Charlie Diaz. Gunn collected soil at the cemetery, which is on the site of the Aisne-Marne Offensive, for a project to restore a World War I monument that fell apart and was removed from Arlington National Cemetery in 1938. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
For the five Gold Star mothers, the restoration effort carries a deeply personal motivation: preserving remembrance of the sacrifices of those who, like their sons, served and died for the United States.
“It would be really nice if 100 years from now, people are still commemorating my son,” said Teresa Bullock, whose son, Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Webb, was killed in Iraq in 2007.
At a roadside site near Fismes, which saw heavy fighting involving American troops during World War I, one of the mothers knelt beside the edge of a field and scooped dirt into a small plastic bag while others looked on quietly.
Their trip sprang from the initiative of French military historian Andre Rakoto, who became aware of the marker’s existence two years ago when speaking with the president of an association dedicated to preserving Deblaize’s work.
Inspired by this information, Rakoto reached out to the United War Veterans Council and, with help from the American Gold Star Mothers, worked to confirm that the monument had once stood at Arlington.
Gold Star Mother Jennifer Jackman visits the grave of fellow Kansan Marine Cpl. Bert Ames at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, France, on May 16, 2026. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Gold Star Mother Carrie Farley, right, collects soil with Ryan Hegg of the United War Veterans Council near Fismes, France, on May 16, 2026, as part of efforts to restore a World War I memorial at Arlington National Cemetery that will contain soil from battlefields where American troops fought and died. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
American Gold Star mothers visit the Chateau Thierry Monument in France. During a mission to collect soil as part of efforts to renovate a World War I memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, the mothers retraced the “Gold Star Pilgrimages” of the early 1930s, when the U.S. government brought mothers of the fallen to Europe to visit the graves of their children. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Gold Star mothers collect soil at Belleau Wood, France, on May 16, 2026. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Verification was achieved through archival records, which cleared the way for the go-ahead on the restoration project.
“It struck me that this whole story was forgotten,” Rakoto said. “And I thought how great it would be to offer that monument to Arlington again.”
Several Gold Star mothers were asked to help gather the soil as a way to connect the sacrifice of World War I troops with the families of those lost in more recent wars.
“To redo this monument in honor of these troops is just amazing,” said Jennifer Jackman, whose son Marine 1st Lt. Ryan Jackman died in 2007 while preparing to lead his platoon overseas. “We need to remember the past to go forward.”
The site near Fismes is the only one without a formal monument or American cemetery managed by the American Battle Monuments Commission.
Besides collecting soil at the cemetery sites, the women visited graves and read the names of fallen service members aloud.
At the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Jackman visited the grave of Cpl. Bert Ames, a Marine from Kansas who was killed in the Battle of Belleau Wood in June 1918.
The mothers went into Belleau Wood to collect soil on Saturday.
“This has deep meaning for a mom, because they say they die twice: when they officially die and when their name is said for the last time,” said Joyce Paulsen, whose son Sgt. 1st Class Matthew McClintock, a Green Beret, died in action in Afghanistan’s Helmand province in 2016.
At the nearby Oise-Aisne American Cemetery, located on the site of the Aisne-Marne Offensive, Mona Gunn spoke at the grave of Army Sgt. William Frank Earnest, who died in September 1918 while serving in the all-Black 370th Infantry Regiment from Illinois.
Earnest was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity like Gunn’s husband, a carrier Navy sailor. Their son, Signalman Apprentice Cherone Louis Gunn, died in the attack on the USS Cole in October 2000.
“I think about all the African American soldiers who were killed in World War I, laid to rest and whose moms were not able to come,” Gunn said. “I represented the mom of William Earnest today.”
Gunn felt joy at bringing soil from the cemetery back to Arlington, where her son is buried, so that the renovated marker can honor the sacrifices of American service members. But getting the soil to the United States is no small feat.
Ryan Hegg, head of legacy and education at the United War Veterans Council, is tasked with making sure the samples meet U.S. Department of Agriculture requirements.
At each site, the soil was placed in specially designated plastic bags, which were signed by a French official and will later be sterilized to prevent pathogens from entering the U.S.
Visitors won’t see the soil once the monument is complete, as it will be permanently sealed inside the marker in accordance with the original design.
“Everything that we’ve been doing, the design, the structure, is as close as possible to the original,” Hegg said, adding that the obvious exception is that the new marker is being built with more durable materials.
The marker will be dedicated on July 5 as part of the 250th anniversary of American independence.
During their soil-collecting mission, which wrapped up Monday, the five mothers retraced the “Gold Star pilgrimages” of the early 1930s, when the U.S. government brought mothers of the fallen to Europe to visit the graves of their children.
At the roadside site near Fismes, Carrie Farley looked out over the broad, open fields. Her son, Army Staff Sgt. Derek J. Farley, was killed while defusing an improvised explosive device in Farah province, Afghanistan, in 2010.
She said she was honored to be following in the footsteps of the Gold Star mothers who came before her.
“All of us mothers share a common purpose: remembering them and the sacrifices they made,” she said after placing a white carnation at the site.
A white carnation is laid on the ground on May 16, 2026, near to where Army Pfc. Joseph W. Runyon is thought to have been buried near Fismes, France. Runyon’s remains were later transferred to the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
