NOTABLE ARKANSANS

He was born in 1888 in Big Island (now Manila) in Mississippi County. He father died when he was young, so he quit school after the fourth grade to help support his family. He grew up in the woods and became an excellent marksman and hunting guide.

At the beginning of World War I, he volunteered for the Army. He was initially rejected because he was only 5 feet, 3 inches tall, but, as the war in Europe intensified, he was eventually accepted and sent to France. On Oct. 10, 1918, using the shooting skills he had learned in the Arkansas woods, he single-handedly destroyed a machine gun placement that had pinned down his platoon. Later he killed a five-man enemy crew as they were setting up a machine gun at a distance considered to be well out of range of the Americans. When told the distance was too great, he said, “Why, that’s just good shootin’ distance.”

He was listed in fourth place when General Pershing named the 100 greatest heroes of the war. He received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Croix de Guerre with palm, the Croix de Guerre with Gilt Star, and the Medaille Militaire from the American and French governments.

After serving only 16 months he was honorably discharged and returned home. Four years later, he died during an operation due to tuberculosis that he probably contracted by exposure to nerve gas in France.

None of his friends and family knew anything about his heroism until General Pershing’s list was published. He had hidden his medals in an old tackle box.

Who was this war hero with an Arkansas State Park named for him? Answer on Page 6E