by Emma Sumlin • 4 minutes
On Monday, First Liberty was in Maryland for the 100th anniversary celebration of the Bladensburg Peace Cross.
The Peace Cross stands as a 40-foot-tall tribute to 49 service members from Prince George’s County who gave their lives in World War I. Conceived by Gold Star mothers and brought to fruition with the support of The American Legion, the memorial was dedicated in 1925.
To commemorate a century of the Peace Cross, we look back on the story of Martha Redman, a Gold Star Mother who worked tirelessly to ensure the sacrifice of her son and the other Boys of Bladensburg would never be forgotten.
Martha Redman: The Grieving Mother Who Preserved Her Son’s Heroic Legacy
100 years ago, hot tears ran down Martha Redman’s face. She saw the name etched into the newly dedicated Bladensburg Peace Cross: William Redman. Her son.
At the base of the Memorial Cross it said, “This Memorial Cross Dedicated To The Heroes of Prince George’s County Who Gave Their Lives In The Great War For The Liberty Of The World.”
No one quite understood the lengths Martha and nine other mothers went through to ensure their sons would not become a footnote in history. Amidst incomparable grief, they pioneered the effort to erect a memorial to honor the fallen soldiers.
In 1918, William was deployed to France. Martha was not ready to part with her child. As she said goodbye to him, a piece of her heart was torn away.
That same year, Martha received the news that no mother should ever hear. William was killed in a seaplane accident in France with two other Americans. He was the first Navy sailor in the county to make the ultimate sacrifice. 48 other soldiers from Prince George’s County, Maryland, also perished in the Great War.
To receive news such as this was utterly unbearable. William would never come home. Martha’s grief-stricken solution was to visit his grave in France. A heart-wrenching reality set in when she realized she could not afford to go, and in time, the world would forget him.
To Martha and the Mothers of Bladensburg, a man was only missing if he was forgotten. And though their sons were considered Missing in Action, they were going to do everything they could to make sure their valor, heroism, and courage, lived on.
Immediately, Martha dedicated herself to raise money for a memorial that would honor William and the other fallen heroes who sacrificed their lives.
In 1919, a memorial committee was founded by Martha and other mothers with the same goal. Together they found the strength they needed to endure such devastation and give hope when it seemed hopeless.
The memorial committee circulated a flyer prior to the memorial’s construction. In that document, the committee explained the memorial would be built “in commemoration of their sons who thus died for the cause of democracy…that future generations may look upon it and remember the…boys who went from this county to help stop this stream of destruction, and who now sleep in France.”
Martha had the distinguished privilege of turning the first shovel at the site dedication ceremony, a moment she would never forget.
In 1920, Martha addressed a letter to her U.S. Senator, John Walter Smith. She explained that she had worked so hard to raise funds for the memorial because “my son, William F. Redman, lost his life in France and because of that I feel that our memorial cross is, in a way, his gravestone.”
After the first shovel broke ground, Martha and the mothers continued to give their utmost to see that the memorial would be completed. But the initial momentum experienced some setback due to a lack of funds.
In 1922, the effort to build the memorial was turned over to the newly returned veterans of The American Legion, who agreed to take on the project as a way of honoring their fallen brothers. The American Legion embarked on a four-year journey of intense fundraising to complete the monument.
With the help from The Legion, Martha and the Gold Star Mothers were able to see the monument completed and inaugurated in July 1925. The memorial, standing over 40 feet high, was situated at the terminus of the National Defense Highway in Bladensburg—a highway itself dedicated to the memory of those lost in WWI.
This beautiful gravestone was designed to be a timeless symbol of the bravery and sacrifice of veterans and the principles they died to uphold. Dedicated officially in 1925, it has now been a century of reflection for our country.
What Martha did was exceptionally meaningful not only for history’s sake, but as a loving mother who suffered the great loss of her son. It was one final act of love. A visual act of devotion that would carry on even after she was gone.
Not Every Battle Was Fought Overseas
In 2014, a radical group sued to demolish the Peace Cross, claiming that the memorial was unconstitutional because it was shaped like a cross and situated on public land.
First Liberty represented The American Legion for several years to ensure the memorial would not be bulldozed into rubble.
On June 20, 2019—100 years after the first shovel broke ground in Bladensburg—First Liberty secured a victory at the U.S. Supreme Court that saved the memorial from destruction. The historic 7-2 ruling in The American Legion v. American Humanist Association upheld the memorial as constitutional.
But the Supreme Court’s order didn’t just save a single monument in Maryland. It set a precedent protecting memorials like it bearing religious symbols across the country. This was a momentous and historic triumph for religious liberty in America.
A mother’s love never dies, and that’s why Martha and the Gold Star Mothers worked tirelessly to preserve their sons’ legacy and keep their memory alive in our public consciousness. Today, as we celebrate 100 years of the Peace Cross, let us never forget that the religious freedom we enjoy is owed to the Boys of Bladensburg and every service member who sacrificed all of their tomorrows.
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