WWI hero’s shotgun back in Manila

A shotgun belonging to Manila's World War I hero Herman Davis has made a full circle and has been donated to the Herman Davis American Legion Post 197 and will eventually be placed in the Manila Veterans Museum.

Gregg Roll and Mike Bunch, members of Post 197, traveled to Cape Girardeau, Mo., last week to meet Herman Davis's grandson, H.A. (Herman Alvin) Davis of Florissant, Mo, who wanted to make sure the shotgun got back where it came from.

In addition to the American Legion being named for Herman Davis, there is a monument of Davis located on Baltimore (Main) Street of Manila. The park surrounds the grave site of Private Herman Davis.

Davis grew up hunting and working as a guide at Big Lake and later became a scout and sharpshooter in World War I.

Davis was honored for his heroic actions on the battlefield during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive – most notably taking of several German machine gun nests. Davis received the Distinguished Service Cross, Croix de Guere, and Medaille Militaire awards from the American and French governments.

Davis was on General John J. Pershing's list of 100 Greatest Heroes of the World War.

Davis returned to Manila and his life as a guide at Big Lake.

By mid-1922 his health began to fail due to exposure to poison gas during the war. Members of the Dud Cason American Legion Post in Blytheville transported him to the Veteran's Hospital in Memphis where he later died on Jan. 5, 1923.

Manila donated land and even school children joined in the fund-raising campaign with penny drives to help pay for the 25 foot granite life-sized statue of Davis which was unveiled on Memorial day in 1925. Davis's body was moved from the Manila Cemetery and buried at the base of the monument.

Bunch and Roll agree, the shotgun is a part of Herman Davis's history.

Roll said H.A. Davis shared the history of the shotgun as it had been passed down to the family.

The Winchester 1897 model was manufactured in 1913. Herman Davis came to be the owner of the shotgun from a gentlemen who visited and hunted Big Lake.

Herman was the guide of Max Jackson, a businessman from St. Louis, Mo.

Davis had found a fresh water pearl at Big Lake and showed it to Mr. Jackson and then gave it to him.

Around 1914 Mr. Jackson sent Herman Davis the shotgun which he used before and after he was in the military.

When Herman Davis died the shotgun was passed to his son, Claud Davis.

Claud used the gun for many years and at his death, it was passed down to his son, H.A.

“H.A. told us he had only fired it one time and it had been in the gun cabinet untouched for the last 20 years or so. He wanted our Post to have it,” Roll said. “We are so grateful for this gift.”

The 106-year-old shotgun has such a historical value, it is priceless.

“I feel honored to be a part of this,” Bunch said.

Eventually, they plan to have a case made featuring the history of the gun and place it in the museum.

It is a great gift to the Herman Davis Post 197, a Purple Heart Post.