Nannie Watson (Winslow) Henley b. 1874 in Asheboro, North Carolina, was married to Henry “Gus” Henley b. 1862. Their second child was Clifford Henley, b. 5 April 1896, in Asheboro, North Carolina, who died in WWI on 29 September 1918 in France.
He is buried in Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Plot G, Row 32, Grave 14 in Romagne, France. He was a Private First Class, 308th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division, in the US Army.
According information compiled by fellow genealogists in the family, Nannie Henley, was invited by the War Department to visit the grave of her son in Europe (along with other mothers who lost sons in the war).
Nannie sailed on the S.S. President Roosevelt to France and returned on the S.S. Leviathan to New York. To date I’ve not been able to locate the outbound passenger list on the S.S. President Roosevelt, but I was able to locate the passenger list naming Nannie as she returned on the S.S. Leviathan to New York.
According to the passenger list, she (at age 57) sailed from Cherbourg France on September, 10th, 1932 and arrived at the port of New York on September 16th, 1932 making it a six day voyage during the height of hurricane season.
The photo is of Nannie Henley while she visited the grave for her fallen son. Also notice she is wearing what looks like a WWI service metal on her chest along with a ribbon that says “H * 1”.
The passenger list and ship image can be found on Ancestry.com, New York Passenger Lists 1820-1957, search for Nannie Henley in 1932.
For more information about Gold Star Mothers, here are some books of interest.