Cottonwood chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1917-current, 1923-05-11
ALSO TO HONOR MOTHERS
Plan Has Official Approval Of the
Chiefs of Army and Navy Air Scrv-
lce-LiIlan Gatlln Is Back Of
the Movement.
Don't you think that the men
Who gave their lives In the de-
veIopment Of flying should be re-
membered2

Washington.--A young woman In
aviation clothes stopped beside a fly
ers grave in Arlington the other day
and placed there pink rose, spray
Of white chrysanthemum and bit of
Jerusalem ivy. Twenty-four army and
navy officers stood at attention close
by. From overhead came the throb Of
five planes flying in formation, while In
the background some 500 onlookers
watched the little ceremony.
From this grave the young aviatrix
and her little company went to the
other 40 flyers graves In the national
cemetery, and last, 70 the grave Of the
unknown soldier, leaving each time the
three floral tributes.
The young woman who paid this hon
or to the aviators who have given their
lives for the country was Lillian CAT
lin. She is the girl who recently came
East by the air mall route from San
Francisco to New York, thereby be-
coming the first woman to fly across
the country.
Began Flying In 1911.
Miss Gatlin has been flying since
1911, and she considers herself one Of
the pioneers Many Of the aviators who
were her friends have crashed to earth,
leaving mothers, who had been so
proud of them, suddenly broken. Be
cause she gets the point Of view both
of the aviators who few until they
crashed In spite of everything and of
the mothers they left, Miss Gatlin Is
giving herself to the cause of proving
that the flyers are not forgotten.
She has asked President Harding to
permit her to designate the second Sun
day In September as national aerial
day, when tribute may be paid to the
gold star mothers OF aviation and their
sons. Her plan has the official approval
of Major General Patrick, chief of the
army air service. and of Rear Admiral
Moffett, chief of the naval air service
To stop In the midst Of our busy
whirl to place flower on grave once
each year and to think about men who
have done their work and gone on, may
seem sentimental thing The strictly
practical minded would agree with
Vachel Lindsay that ITO live in man
kind Is far more than to live In
name"
But most people cannot take so Spar
tan view. The fact remains that al
most every individual Graves to be re-
membered either for his personality or
for his achievements. Miss Gatlin
points out that the man who provides
In his will for tombstone generally
does so because he Is afraid no one
else will erect stone for him and
that his name will be forgotten. The
carved name on stone is his one hope
Of keeping his name alive.
Flyers Not to Be Forgotten.
Miss Gatlin Is determined that the
flyers who risked their lives that avia-
ton might progress are not going to be
forgotten. Their mothers are to have
the comfort of being assured that their
boys have not given thek lives for
nothing.
Miss Gatlin tells about 1t eagerly.
She Is a blonde young woman with a
boyish, straightforward manner of
speech and gesture, which contrasts
with her close sympathy for the ma
ternal point Of view and her feminine
use Of symbolism.
Everything about her method Of pay
Ing tribute to the flyers has some sig
nificant association. She placed the
Jerusalem Ivy on the graves at Airing
ton because 1t Is said that 1t never
dies. Each part Of the flyers costume
she wore on her trip East once be.
longed to some aviator who has flown
on" as Miss Gatlin puts it. The pair
Of white baby shoes she carries for q
charm are associated with flyer who
crashed just before his baby was born
These little shoes interested President
Harding when he talked with Miss Cat
lin about the proposed national tribute
The pink roses are reminiscent of Lin
coin Beachey.