James Bethel Gresham
James Gresham | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | August 23, 1893 McLean County, Kentucky |
| Died | November 3, 1917 (aged 24) Artois, France |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
| Service/ | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1914–17 |
| Rank | Corporal |
| Unit | 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division |
James Bethel Gresham, (August 23, 1893 – November 3, 1917) was an American soldier, the first Hoosier serviceman and perhaps the first American serviceman to die in World War I, along with Private Merle Hay of Glidden, Iowa and Private Thomas Enright of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[1]
Early life[]
James Gresham was born on August 23, 1893 in McLean County, Kentucky. In September 1901, his family moved to Evansville, Indiana, where he attended the Centennial School and he later worked in local furniture factories.[2]
Military service, death, and legacy[]
Gresham enlisted into the U.S. Army on April 23, 1914 with his service beginning at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri. By June 1914, he was serving in El Paso, Texas under General John J. Pershing. He shipped out from Fort Bliss for France with the first American soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force in June 1917. Just before daylight on November 3, 1917, Gresham was killed along with Privates Hay and Enright during an early morning raid by the Imperial German Army near Artois, France. Two days later, on 5 November 1917, Enright, Gresham, and Hay were buried near the battlefield where they had died. An inscription marked their graves: "Here lie the first soldiers of the illustrious Republic of the United States who fell on French soil for justice and liberty."[3] Later in 1921, the body was moved to its current resting place in Evansville, Indiana. As a memorial, as the first American casualty of World War I, a house in Evansville was built in his honor and given to his mother, Alice Dodd.[4]
See also[]
- Albert Mayer (soldier), the first Imperial German Army soldier killed, 1914
- Jules Andre Peugeot, the first French Army soldier killed, 1914
- John Parr, the first British Army soldier killed, 1914
- Thomas Enright, one of the first three American Army soldiers killed, 1917
- Merle Hay, one of the first three American Army soldiers killed, 1917
- George Edwin Ellison, the last British Army soldier killed in World War I, at 9:30 a.m. 11 November
- Augustin Trébuchon, last French soldier killed, at 10:45 a.m. 11 November
- George Lawrence Price, last Commonwealth soldier killed in World War I, 10:58 a.m. 11 November.
- Henry Gunther, last soldier killed in World War I, at 10:59 a.m. 11 November.
References[]
- ^ "Cpl. James Bethel Gresham". www.usgennet.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
- ^ "Cpl. James Bethel Gresham". www.usgennet.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
- ^ "Cpl. James Bethel Gresham". www.usgennet.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
- ^ "Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library". www.evpl.org. Archived from the original on 2017-05-10. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
External links[]
- James Bethel Gresham at Find a Grave
- Heiman Blatt (1920). Sons of Men: Evansville's War Record
- James Bethel Gresham An Evansville Hero, 1893–1917
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- 1893 births
- 1917 deaths
- American military personnel killed in World War I
- United States Army non-commissioned officers
- United States Army personnel of World War I