Dresser, Stephen Raymond

Born October 20, 1898, in Westbrook, Maine. Son of Ernest L. and Hattie Raymond Dresser. Home, Brookline, Massachusetts. Educated private tutor and Westbrook schools. Joined American Field Service, May 26, 1917, attached Section Two until September 26, 1917. Enlisted as private in U. S. A. Ambulance Service, Section 552. Croix de guerre, three citations, and American citation. Died of wounds resulting from accident, March 19, 1919, in Paris. Buried Suresnes, Seine.

THE first and youngest going to war from his home town of Westbrook, Stephen Dresser gave incentive to the enrolment of others and also to the eager grasping by his townspeople of the various opportunities for war endeavor. "He gave his life for what he realized to be the greatest cause in the world's history. And throughout the two years of warfare there was always the exaltation of service in his every word and act."

Speaking of Stephen's youth a very old friend of the family says: "Those who knew him will never forget his bright young face, his manner so courteous to young and old alike. There was a manliness about him rare for his years, and yet, with it all, he was a real boy, delighting in the good things of boyhood." As he grew older "Steve" strengthened in this manliness as he did in body. As a lad of nineteen he had his place among men. A fellow driver says "he possessed all the attributes of a good soldier . . . . . It was an honor to have been a comrade of Steve's . . . . . the most self-sacrificing and bravest man I ever knew." His commander says, "Steve was one of the finest fellows that went across . . . . . as fine as I knew." As a child, as a boy, and as a young man Stephen won the affection and respect of comrades and acquaintances.

In boyhood Stephen was ill with tuberculosis. He was in bed for months at a time, yet always he fought the disease, and cheerily, too. " Never discouraged, or blue, or peevish about his sickness," Stephen disciplined himself with the thought that "anything that ought to be done he could do." He loved people and was generous to a fault. Big-hearted and helpful, "Steve" was loved by everyone.

During his long spells of illness he turned much to books, which gave him a serious side unusual in a boy. He had, nevertheless, all a boy's interests. At last, a year or two before war came, thanks greatly to his will power, an absolute cure was effected, and Stephen freed of the burden which had always weighed him down, entered enthusiastically into the life about him. His sympathies were early roused for France and a month before his high school class graduated Stephen entered the American Field Service. just before sailing he wrote: "We both know, Dad, what I am going into and I may never come back, but it is worth it to both you and me."

In May, 1917, "Steve" joined Section Two in the Verdun region. For its work at this time near Mort Homme and Esnes the Section was decorated, and Stephen received his first Croix de Guerre. Twice later he was cited by the French, and on one of these occasions "when Steve learned he was to be decorated he asked that the medal be given to someone who had not received a cross before," but the lieutenant refused because"of all the men to be decorated he had done most to merit it." With the militarization of the Ambulance Service he became a member of Section 552. Through the continued trials and disconsolations the words of his friend held true: "Steve worked uncomplainingly through it all --- always cheerful."

After the Armistice Stephen broke his arm and spent some months at hospitals and the Shepard convalescent home, where earlier he had been sick with pneumonia and shell-shock. "One of our favorite boys," Mr. Shepard called him, "you can be proud of Steve. "Stephen died in Paris on March 19, 1919. The remark of Lieutenant Gores shows, as well as words can, Stephen Dresser's fineness: "No braver soldier stood and as a man he had his ideals and lived strictly up to them."

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