Bertha Luretta (Beard) Boyd (abt. 1874 - abt. 1942)

Born about 1874 in Pike, Mississippi, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 1942 at about age 68 in Walthall, Mississippi, United States

Biography

Rettie Boyd was a Gold Star Pilgrim to France in 1931. ^[1]

From the moment they left their homes, all reasonable expenses were paid. They were greeted by civic officials in New York at a city hall reception, boarded luxury liners, traveled cabin class, stayed at first-class hotels, and had an army officer, physician, and nurse accompany them abroad. Pilgrims were escorted to the graves of their sons and husbands, then each party spent a week in either Paris or London where they were honoured by the French or British government. One accompanying journalist in 1930, wrote: “As the soldiers and Marines were transported to Europe without consideration of their individual stations in life, so were these mothers and widows to follow that glorious trail in ships which have no class distinction—in ships where all would share alike.”

[^[2]

Sources

Bertha Luretta "Rettie" Beard Boyd in findagrave.com.

1. ↑ Times-Picayune , July 2 1931
2. ↑ MOURNING AND THE MAKING OF A NATION: The Gold Star Mothers Pilgrimages, 1930-1933

Acknowledgements