Vanderburgh County IN Archives Military Records.....Gresham, James Bethel 
WWI 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 May 31, 2008, 12:06 am

JAMES BETHEL GRESHAM, Corporal, Sixteenth Infantry

   The first American to give his life on the battlefields of France after the armed
forces of the United States began military operations against Germany was a Hoosier
lad, James Bethel Gresham, of Evansville, Indiana. The impressive ceremonies held at
the time of his funeral, and that of the two comrades who fell during the same raid
that caused Corporal Gresham's death, are particularly appropriate to Indiana's Gold
Star Volume. General Bordeaux, the French commander of the sector in which the raid
occurred, near Bathelemont, accompanied by his full staff, infantry, artillery, and
engineer chiefs, and a representative of the French Corps commander, had charge of
the ceremonies. As the bodies of these first heroes were lowered in the graves, a
company of United States Infantry fired three volleys, and the trumpeter sounded
taps.    General Bordeaux delivered the following address.—

   "In the name of the Eighteenth Division, in the name of the French Army, and in
the name of France, I bid farewell to Corporal Gresham, Private Enright, and Private
Hay, of the Sixteenth Infantry, American Army.

   "Of their own free will they had left their happy and prosperous country to come
over here. They knew that the war continued in Europe; they knew that the forces
fighting for honor, love, justice, civilization, were still checked by the
long-prepared forces which are serving the powers of brutal domination, oppression,
barbarity. They knew that an effort was still necessary.

   "They ignored nothing of the circumstances. Nothing had been concealed from
them—neither the length nor hardships of this war, nor the violence of the battle,
nor the dreadfulness of the new weapons, nor the perfidy of the foe. Nothing stopped
them. They had accepted to lead a hard and strenuous life; they had crossed the
ocean despite great peril; they had taken their place on the front by our side; they
have fallen facing the foe in a hard and desperate hand-to-hand fight. Honor to
them! Their families, their friends, and their fellow-citizens will be proud when
they learn of their death.

   "Men: These graves, the first to be dug in our national soil, at but a short
distance from the enemy, are as a mark of the mighty hand of our allies, firmly
clinging to the common task, confirming the will of the people and Army of the
United States to fight with us to a finish; ready to sacrifice as long as it will be
necessary, until final victory for the noblest of causes—that of liberty of nations,
the weak as well as the mighty. 

   "Thus the death of this humble corporal and of these two private soldiers appears
to us with extraordinary grandeur. We will therefore ask that the mortal remains of
these young men be left here—be left to us forever. We will inscribe on their tombs:
'Here lie the first soldiers of the United States Republic to fall on the soil of
France for Justice and Liberty.' The passer-by will stop and uncover his head. The
travelers of France, of the allied countries, of America, the men of heart who will
come to visit our battle-field of Lorraine, will go out of their way to come
here,—to bring to these graves the tribute of their respect and of their
gratefulness.

   "Corporal Gresham, Private Enright, Private Hay: In the name of France, I thank
you.    God receive your souls.    Farewell!"


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

Indiana World War Records
GOLD STAR HONOR ROLL
A Record of Indiana Men and Women who died in the service of the United States and
the Allied Nations in the World War
1914 — 1918

PUBLISHED BY THE 
INDIANA HISTORICAL COMMISSION
INDIANAPOLIS
1921

FORT WAYNE PRINTING COMPANY
CONTRACTORS FOR STATE PRINTING AND BINDING
1921


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