July 2, 2007

At the conclusion of World War I, Herman Davis of Manila (Mississippi County) was listed as one of the nation’s top 100 heroes. He survived the war but died in 1923 of tuberculosis, probably due to exposure to poison gas during the war. The leaflet shown here picturing Davis was distributed to help raise money for the Herman Davis Memorial Fund, an attempt to mark his grave with a monument. Money was eventually raised by different groups, and his grave was marked with a twenty-five-foot granite shaft and statue. Today, the site is the state’s smallest state park.