Nevada County’s Early Veterans

World World War I Gold Star Men of the Grass Valley District

World War I Monument.
Courtesy Searls Historical Library.

Anthony J. Bevilacqua 1894 - 1918, sawmill worker in Colfax, served in 3rd Battalion, 20th Engineers, died June 4.

Lawrence A. Brasher 1882 – 1919, mechanical engineer at North Star mine, served in 7th Engineers, 5th Division; died February 22 in France during the influenza pandemic

Isaac L. Fleming 1896 - 1918, a Grass Valley farmer, served in 363rd Infantry Regiment, 91st Division, died November 12 from wounds suffered at Battle of Argonne.

Linville Dooley Jatunn 1887 – 1921, served in France in Company B, 604th Engineers and died March 14.

William H. Kneebone 1897 – 1918, Smartsville resident died while training at Camp Rosecrans, CA, November 8, during the influenza pandemic.

William Hawley Moran d. 1919, enlisted in Grass Valley for the quartermaster corps and died at Madison Barracks, New York on February 24.

Clarence Crase Thomas 1886 – 1917, Grass Valley native and graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, he died April 28 of exposure on the North Atlantic following a submarine attack.

Eston Thomas Whiting 1896 – 1919, Grass Valley native who died November 3 of appendicitis complications.

Robert H. Beyer 1896 – 1918, Grass Valley farmer, he died while training at Camp Lewis, WA, September 23, during the influenza pandemic.

Melvyn Frandy 1897 – 1918, Grass Valley resident and engineering graduate of UC Berkeley, died October 10 at Camp Humphrey, VA in the influenza pandemic.

Hedley Hill 1895 – 1918, worked at the Empire mine and served in 1st Machine Gun Battalion, 1st Division before being killed in action in France on October 5.

William Hague 1882 – 1918, a Harvard graduate and managing director of the North Star mine, served with 116th Engineer Regiment, 41st Division and died January 3 at the Red Cross Hospital Paris of pneumonia.

Albert Pinkham –1890 - 1918, a Grass Valley native who worked at the Brunswick mine, served in the 363rd Infantry Regiment, 91st Division and died in action in Argonne Wood on September 26.

James Rogers – 1886 – 1917, born in Britain, he became a naturalized US citizen so he could enlist and serve in Company D, Fifth California Infantry, and died of a brain abscess at Camp Kearney, CA.

Joseph M. Spencer c1883 – 1918, a worker at Loma Rica Ranch, and a veteran of both the Boxer Rebellion as a US soldier and the Boar War as a British soldier, he enlisted at Grass Valley and died of disease in May.

Edward John White d. 1918, an Empire mine employee, was drafted, trained at Camp Kearny and was assigned to a munitions plant in Maryland. He died June 25 during the influenza pandemic.

Not on the Plaque but Remembered with a Tree

Eugene Carlton Weaver 1896 – 1925, stricken in training camp with an undiagnosed ailment and died in a military hospital in Palo Alto in 1925.

Edward M. Litke dates unknown, apparently was drafted or enlisted in Grass Valley but left no record.

Elina W. Hill 1884 – 1919, worked as a nurse in Grass Valley before enlisting in the U. S. Army nursing corps, serving in Douglas, AZ; and died January 2 following surgery at Letterman Hospital in San Francisco.

Auxiliary Dinner is November 3, 2026 - Make your reservations now! 278-5343

Wreaths Across America began unofficially in 1992 at Arlington National Cemetery. Since that time the mission of Wreaths Across America had spread to cemeteries throughout all 50 states and beyond. This year the Wreaths Across America Ceremony will be held on December 19 at over 3500 cemeteries to demonstrate our gratitude and respect for our veterans and the sacrifices they have made. Our ceremony, which commemorates the 34th year of Wreaths Across America, will be held at noon at St. Patrick's Cemetery on Rough and Ready Hwy (next to NID). Ceremonial wreaths will be laid to honor each branch of the U.S. military. Following our ceremony the public will be invited to choose a wreath to place on the grave of a veteran and say the name of the individual. All ages are invited to attend as we Remember the fallen, Honor those that serve and Teach the next generation the value of freedom.

The wreaths are $17 each and the deadline for donations for this year is November 28. All donations must be back to the headquarters in Maine by then.
Our goal is to place wreaths on the graves of veterans at St. Patrick's, Greenwood and Sierra Lawn Cemeteries. To do so we need about 1500 wreaths. You may sponsor a wreath by going directly to: wreathsacrossamerica.org/CA0231P