It was originally formed in 1928 for mothers of those lost in World War I, and it holds a congressional charter under Title 36 § 211 of the United States Code.

[3] Its name came from the custom of families of servicemen hanging a banner called a service flag in the windows of their homes.

His mother, Grace Darling Seibold, began to do community service by visiting returning servicemen in the hospitals.

Since all aviators were under British control and authority, the United States could not help the Seibold family with any information about their son.

Grace continued to visit hospitalized veterans in the Washington area, clinging to the hope that her son might have been injured and returned to the United States without any identification.

While working through her sorrow, she helped ease the pain of the many servicemen who returned so war-damaged that they were incapable of ever reaching normalcy.

Grace, convinced that self-contained grief is self-destructive, devoted her time and efforts not only to working in the hospital but also to supporting other mothers whose sons had lost their lives in military service.

After years of planning, twenty-five mothers met in Washington, D.C., on June 4, 1928, to establish the national organization, American Gold Star Mothers, Inc. On May 28, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson approved a suggestion made by the Council of National Defense that, instead of wearing conventional mourning for relatives who have died in the service of their country, American women should wear a black band on the left arm with a gilt star on the band for each member of the family who has given his life for the nation.

The United States also assisted its citizens who were Gold Star Mothers to visit the overseas graves of their sons, as well as for widows of the fallen.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton,[7] the group agreed on June 27, 2005, to change its membership criteria,[8] and it accepted its first two non-citizens as members a few months later in early September 2005.

On September 21, 1948, the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative stamp, specially designed by artist Charles R. Chickering, honoring the Gold Star Mothers.

[15][16][17] American Gold Star Manor, located in Long Beach, California, is a 348-unit retirement home for parents of soldiers killed while serving in the military.