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Distinction comes to men in ! many ways. In the case of James Euin Gordon of Etlan, he holds the honor of having ! been the first person drafted in World War I, and now and then this distinction brings him before the public eye. Gordon was 27, the son of the late James and Comora B. Gordon of Syria, when war was declared April 6, 1917. Woodrow Wilson, President in those years, signed a Selective Military Conscription bill on May 18, 1917. On July j 20 that year, World War I Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, blindfolded, reached for a capsule in an oversize fishbowl which would indicate the name of the first man to be | drafted. The capsule was number 258 -- Gordon’s number, and Madison County’s name was published nationwide. The local Madison County Selective Service Board sent him a draft notice dated July 31, signed by chairman T. J. Twyman and clerk G. H. Taylor; and on August 6, as ordered, he reported. He was inducted September 5, 1917, at Madison Courthouse. There wasn’t much time for trainings, so he wasn’t long at Camp Lee before he was ! shipped overseas. With him iwere three other Madison! | County men: Robert Utz, Jes-I j sie Tanner, and Oscar W.l Smith. All were assigned to; Company E. 318th Infantry of j the 80th (Blue Ridge) Division.! Utz and Tanner were destined! never to return, both killed in the same engagement at Meuse- Argonne. Although Gor
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