Historic Moment: A World War I Hero
BY Beth Batlle
Skaneateles Town Historian
After the United States declared war on Germany in April of 1918, James Gray of Skaneateles Falls enlisted in the Marines.
He was trained as an expert machine gunner and sharpshooter, receiving his final training at Quantico, Virginia.
As a member of the First Machine Gun Battalion, Gray was shipped out of the Brooklyn Navy Yard on a two week journey headed to France.
His battalion landed at Brest and was quartered at the old Napoleon Barracks. They were shipped out the very next day by train with a three day ration of bully beef and hard tack. In less than five days they was at the front.
Here the fighting was intense. For 16 days the infantry and Marines would advance, returning to the rear only for short rests. During this time they advanced but twenty miles.
One day, after five of his group had been killed and two wounded, only Gray and one other remained. Seeing that the enemy was down to two men, a burly German soldier rose out of his bunker, bayoneted gun in hand, and raced forward at full speed, totally focused on capturing their machine gun. When he was within 30 feet, Gray dropped him with his 45 automatic Colt. The two Americans held their position for two days and received two citations for bravery from the French Army.
In the next battle, Gray received his first dose of German mustard gas and a shrapnel wound to the knee. However, it was at St. Mihiel Salien, on the Meuse River, that the first large scale offensive by the American forces took place on the Western Front. The noise, Gray said, was almost more than the human ear could take.
The French would not let the Americans bomb any of their towns, however, as the Germans were holding many Frenchmen captive. Although, when the Germans retreated, they would turn their artillery back on the town and destroy it.
After one battle Gray laid alone for three days and nights in a fox hole with his machine gun, without water or anything to eat. To make matters worse, it rained steadily for 24 hours so that Gray immersed in muddy water.
Then, seven days into a battle near Champagne, Gray was sent to the hospital. His feet were so swollen that he couldn’t walk; he hadn’t had his shoes off in 12 days (20 days was his record.) He was to remain in the hospital for almost three months. Trench foot ended Gray’s four months of continual fighting. Gray’s battalion received 13 citations from the French and American governments for bravery under fire.
After the armistice was signed on Nov. 11,1918, the troops returned home. Several thousand people met them at the dock and a band started playing “Home Sweet Home.” Gray and the others had been through some trying moments and never flinched. However, when the band started playing, there was not a dry eye among those on the ship.
Gray came home on furlough for Christmas in December of 1918. He was the first Skaneateles boy to return home with decorations won on foreign battlefields. He was also wearing the Distinguished Service Cross. Gray said that France was a wonderful country, but he would rather see the welcome home sign out in Skaneateles Falls.
