James Bethel Gresham

James Bethel Gresham, (August 23, 1893 - November 3, 1917) was the first Indianan serviceman and perhaps the first American serviceman to die in World War I, along with Private Merle Hay,  Glidden, Iowa and Private Thomas Enright of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Early life
James Gresham was born on August 23, 1893 in McLean County, Kentucky to Alice Bethel Gresham and Green Gresham. Following his father's death, his mother married William T. Dodd. In September of 1901, his family moved to Evansville, Indiana, where he attended the Centennial School and he later worked in local furniture factories.

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 of 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 of 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 Nov 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." Later in 1921, it 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.