National WWI Museum and Memorial

Keepsakes

Watercolor painting of a grassy field with a stream running from the bottom right corner of the image to the center left. There is a tree with many leaves on the left, hills in the background on the right, and two uniformed individuals with fishing poles standing beside the water.

Keepsakes
What remains
Small personal objects often became the most meaningful memorials. Their physical presence preserved emotional connections long after the war ended.
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- Holding onto sacred ground. Gold Star families sometimes carried soil from overseas gravesites back across the Atlantic, preserving physical connections to loved ones buried far away. Bags of French soil were given to grieving Gold Star families during their pil...
- A letter was provided alongside the bag: Paris, Summer 1933 Dear Madam, We thought that you might like to take home with you this little memorial present, from your pious pilgrimage to France. This little sack is made with our united flags, and it is filled with...
A single stitch changes everything.
A blue star represented someone serving in the military. A gold star meant they had died. Imagine walking past this home during World War I. What might this hand-sewn flag have communicated to the community?
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- What remains in someone’s hand. Pressed flowers, handwritten notes, and worn pages transformed this small Testament into both personal keepsake and family memorial. This pocket New Testament belonged to Private Charley Eric Walther and was found in his hand afte...
- Walther’s father inscribed its pages to memorialize his son’s story: Private Charles E Walther Killed in action Oct. 1, 1918 in the Argonne France while fighting for the Stars and strips. [sic] May this Testament [sic] be kept sacred through the future generatio...