Herman Davis State Park

(Arkansas)

Herman Davis State Park is a 1-acre (0.40 ha) state park in Manila, Arkansas, United States. The park includes the grave of and a memorial to Herman Davis (1888-1923), a U.S. sniper during World War I. The park is located at the junction of Baltimore Avenue and Arkansas Highway 18, south of the city center. It consists of a grassy area, with a concrete walk leading to the memorial. The memorial is a granite obelisk, 25 feet (7.6 m) in height, in front of which stands a full-size granite likeness of Davis in his infantry uniform. Davis' remains are buried just behind the monument. Davis is also honored with a fountain on the grounds of the Old State House in Little Rock. The fountain was a part of the Arkansas exhibition at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. In 1954, the three-tiered iron fountain was renamed the Herman Davis Memorial Fountain. Davis, a native of Manila, won distinction in the war for taking out a nest of German machine gunners with his marksmanship. Davis was a modest man and rarely mentioned the awards he received for this and other actions, but was called out by General John J. Pershing, who placed him fourth on a list of 100 heroes of the war. (Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Davis_State_Park)