Mighty marksman

Commendation earns hero Distinguished Service Cross

As we commemorate the centennial of World War I, we should recall one Arkansas veteran of the Great War in particular, Herman Davis of Mississippi County. The American commander in Europe, Gen. John J. Pershing listed Davis as No. 4 on his list of 100 greatest heroes of the war.

As the late historian Margaret Smith Ross has written, Herman Davis “was an obscure farm boy” when he was drafted into the U.S. Army. Born Jan. 3, 1888, Herman was the son of Jeff Davis and Mary Ann Vance Davis, residents of Manila, then known as Big Lake Island.

The Davis family was poor but still had standing in the neighborhood. Herman Davis attended school for four years, but had to drop out and work when his father died. Like other poor residents of the area, young Davis and his family took advantage of the natural resources offered by Big Lake. Working with his cousin James Davis, Herman often killed 400 ducks a day and shipped them to northern markets.

Not long before the war erupted in Europe, Davis married and had a son, Claude Orville Davis. The child was raised by his grandmother when Davis’ wife abandoned her young family. He would marry again after the war, that union producing a daughter, Phillis LaFlore Davis.

Davis was away on a hunting and fishing trip when his draft notice arrived. He was inducted March 4, 1918, and sent to Camp Pike near North Little Rock for three months of training. Assigned to the 113th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division, Pvt. Davis’ unit embarked for France on June 15, 1918.

It was during the Meuse-Argonne offensive in September and October 1918 — only weeks before the war’s end — that Davis’ marksmanship drew notice. Davis served as a scout, so he was often the first soldier to encounter enemy units. On Oct. 10, 1918, at Molleville Farm — not far from Verdun — Davis’ unit came under attack from a German machine gun nest located on high ground.

Davis and another scout climbed the hill, and Davis crawled to within 50 yards of the enemy. There, he, as Margaret Ross wrote, “picked off the four Germans as casually and accurately as he had picked off ducks on Big Lake.”

A modest man, Davis did not mention his exploits on the hilltop, but an officer observed the affair and later recommended Davis for a commendation, which turned out to be the recently created Distinguished Service Cross. The French awarded the Croix de Guerre to the diffident and diminutive private from Mississippi County, later adding the Medaille Militaire.

While the bravery shown at Molleville Farm received most of the attention, Davis’ later efforts were, in my opinion, much more impressive. On one occasion, Davis came across a German dugout, and when the alarm was signaled, Davis shot 11 enemy soldiers as they emerged from the bunker. Perhaps most noteworthy of all was Davis’ incredible accuracy when firing from a great distance. Once, after observing Germans moving about casually because they believed themselves at 1,000 yards distance to be safe, Davis asked why no one was shooting. When told the distance was too far, Davis drawled “Why, that’s just good shootin’ distance,” and proceeded to shoot five Germans before they could take cover.

An armistice was signed in November 1918, followed by the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919. Herman Davis made his way home and quietly resumed his life as a commercial fisherman, hunter and farmer. Given his reticence to speak about the war, Davis would probably have lived his short life in obscurity had it not been for Pershing ranking Davis so highly on his list of greatest heroes.

Davis was frequently asked to show his medals, but he did so reluctantly. Visitors were surprised to discover Davis kept his medals in his fishing tackle box amongst lures and other baits.

Not long after returning home, Davis began to suffer from what he thought was exposure to German gas attacks, but which was probably tuberculosis. The local Jud Cason Post No. 24 of the American Legion in Blytheville took Davis to a U.S. military hospital in Memphis. Davis lived fewer than 30 days in the hospital, dying Jan. 5, 1923 — two days after his 35th birthday.

On Memorial Day 1925, the city of Manila dedicated a memorial to Davis featuring a 25-foot granite shaft. Standing in front is a large statue of Davis made of carrara marble in Italy. School children of the state donated pennies to help fund the memorial.

In 1953, the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism accepted the Davis Memorial as the state’s sixth state park. The statue was badly vandalized in 1967, and a duplicate made of granite was later installed.