Brown, James Snodgrass

Born February 10, 1893, in New York City. Son of Willard P. and Mae McHenry Brown. Educated Mount Vernon High School, New York, and Staunton Military Academy, Virginia. Business with W. P. Brown and Sons. Troop C, 1st N. Y. Cavalry. Seven months Mexican Border. Business with A. G. Spaulding and Bro. Joined American Field Service, June 30, 1917; attached Sections Seventy-one and Twenty-nine, until August 31, 1917. Transferred to U. S. A. Ambulance Service. Ill in Paris. Arrived in America, April 23, 1919. Died April 26, 1919, in Embarkation Hospital Number One, Hoboken, New Jersey, of diabetes and gas-poisoning. Buried in New Rochelle, New York.

His brother has written of him: "He was the type of boy who always cared a great deal for soldier life and anything that might have an element of risk in it, always being the ring-leader when there was any mischief afoot. While at high school and at Staunton he played football and was known as a very fast, hard hitting player." On being graduated from the Staunton Military Academy, he entered business with his father where he remained until shortly after his father's death. Then, with a boy's spirit of adventure and a desire to see something of his own country he set out with a companion of his own age for the Pacific Coast. The two started with only moderate funds and worked their way to and from California, obtaining employment on cattle ranches, in moving picture studios, or anywhere they could find work.

After such an experience, life in a New York office seemed insufferable and as trouble with Mexico was pending, he welcomed the opportunity to enlist with the First Cavalry, Troop C, of Brooklyn, and went with that squadron to the Mexican border. His was one of the last formations to be sent home and his discharge gave him an excellent character. On his return he entered the employ of A. G. Spaulding and Brother as a salesman in their New York office, but found it extremely difficult to adapt himself to the ordinary affairs of life,. particularly after this country declared war on Germany.. On June 30, 1917, he left for France as a member of the American Field Service.

His ambition was to serve in a camion section, but as the need just then was for ambulance drivers, he was sent to the front with Ambulance Section Seventy-One which took over its quota of Fiat cars at Noyon on July 31, 1917. They spent the greater part of the summer around Noyon in action in the Saint-Quentin sector. Brown was acting Sous-Chef of the Section and when the United States Army took over the Field Service he enlisted in the United States Army Ambulance Service and was given the rank of Sergeant, first Class, and continued his work at the front. He was twice gassed, once in October, 1917, and again the following year, and was awarded a "Medal of Honor" with citation by the French Government for his work during a grippe epidemic among the French soldiers.

During the latter part of his stay in France he suffered from the effects of gas and diabetes and was for a time transferred to the Provisional Battalion in Paris. He arrived in Hoboken, on the U. S. Transport Mobile, April 23, 1919, in a semi-conscious condition and was taken immediately to the United States Embarkation Hospital No. 1 where, three days later, he died. His commanding officer wrote of him in a letter to his brother: "Your brother served under my command as assistant sergeant-major during the most critical period of the war. His loyalty, energy, faithfulness, and devotion are such that I cannot put into words my appreciation of his services. I feel that his death is not only that of a valued and trusted assistant, but that of a warm personal friend as well."

• Tribute from Memorial Volume of the American Field Service, 1921