ABMC Sacred Soil Returns to Arlington Through Gold Star Mothers’ Tribute

Today, a historic Sacred Soil Marker at Arlington National Cemetery has been restored, renewing a nearly century-old symbol of remembrance that honors Americans who fell on the battlefields of World War I.

The restored marker was rededicated during a ceremony featuring representatives from the American Battle Monuments Commission and American Battle Monuments Foundation, the American Gold Star Mothers, Arlington National Cemetery, the Embassy of France, Les Amis de Renée et Gaston Deblaize, and the United Veterans War Council.

Gold Star Mother Rose Duval, an Air Force veteran whose son TSgt. Scott Duffman was killed in action in 2007, holds the marker containing soil collected from Saint-Mihiel American Cemetery to be placed within the larger Sacred Soil Marker at Arlington National Cemetery.

The marker's history

Originally conceived in 1927 by French World War I veteran and sculptor Gaston Deblaize, the Sacred Soil Markers were created to give grieving families a tangible connection to the battlefields where their loved ones fought and died. Each marker contains earth collected from former battlefields. Seven were created in France during the late 1920s and early 1930s, with Arlington National Cemetery receiving the only marker installed outside of France in 1929. Although the original Arlington marker deteriorated and was removed in 1938, the restoration project has returned this unique symbol of Franco-American remembrance to its rightful place.

Gold Star Mothers bridge help distance and time with marker of remembrance

A highlight of the ceremony was the placement of renewed sacred soil gathered from American Battle Monuments Commission cemeteries and memorials located on former battlefields in France and Flanders, Belgium. The soil was placed into the restored marker by Gold Star Mothers:

• Rose Duval
• Joyce Paulsen
• Teresa Bullock
• Mona Gunn
• Carrie Farley
• Jennifer Jackman
• Becky Christmas

The sacred soil placed in the marker today was collected during the Gold Star Mothers' May 2026 journey to ABMC sites across Europe. During that pilgrimage, the delegation visited American military cemeteries and memorials, gathering earth from the ground where U.S. service members fought and made the ultimate sacrifice. The restored marker now permanently unites that soil at Arlington National Cemetery.

ABMC Acting Secretary Robert J. Dalessandro joined French and U.S. officials in commemorating the restoration, underscoring the enduring partnership between the United States and France in preserving the memory of those who gave their lives in service.

"This soil is more than earth. It is a physical connection between battlefield and cemetery, between Europe and America, between the fallen and the living," said Dalessandro. "It is a reminder that sacrifice has geography-but remembrance has no borders."

Gold Star Mother Joyce Paulsen, whose son Sgt. 1st Class Matthew McClintock was killed in action in 2016, places a marker containing soil collected from the battlefields of Montfacon in the Sacred Soil Marker at Arlington National Cemetery. A group of Gold Star Mothers stand beside the rededicated Sacred Soil Marker at Arlington National Cemetery. The marker contains the soil collected from multiple American Battle Monuments Commission cemeteries and monuments, often built on or near the battlefields where Americans fought overseas.