“I realized I was on the trip with her,” Green-Hartley said. “I enjoyed getting to know her.”
Her book also was an example of keeping family memories alive. It generated a passion “to preserve irreplaceable voices from the past,” Green-Hartley said.
Through Lillie Green’s diaries and exchange of letters with her son, the book details his life as an Idaho shepherd who was drafted in 1917. Private Green died of his battlefield wounds in a hospital in France on Aug. 22, 1918.
Mothers of war fatalities organized the nonprofit Gold Star Mothers, and the War Department funded trips to their sons’ gravesites in Europe, starting in 1930.
Lillie Green was one of the first to make the pilgrimage.
The event is presented by the National Park Service and the Friends of Fort Vancouver. It is free and open to the public.
Bob Cromwell, acting chief ranger at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, called the talk timely “in the midst of the centennial of World War I, and right after Veterans Day.
“Vancouver Barracks played an important role in World War I, and Green-Hartley’s ancestors played a direct role in this worldwide conflict. It is an important story to tell, to ensure that we do not forget the personal sacrifices many Americans have made in our military conflicts,” Cromwell said in a news release.
If You Go
• What: Diane Green-Hartley discusses her book, “Lillie’s Jasper: The 1930 Pilgrimage of a Gold Star Mother”
• Where: Fort Vancouver Visitor Center, 1501 E. Evergreen Blvd.
• When: 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday.
