Remainders of a life of service: Eliud Sanchez’s induction photograph; a blurry photo of Sanchez atop his horse, probably at Fort Dix; two photos of Sanchez during his years at Alma College; Sanchez’s World War I registration card. He greatly desired to serve as an officer; marker for Eliud Sanchez in Alma’s Riverside Cemetery.

He only wanted to finish his studies at Alma College and become a civil engineer. When the country went to war, his biggest goal was to become an officer and fight in France. Today, his marker sits alone in an isolated spot in Section D in Alma’s Riverside Cemetery. His name was Eliud B. Sanchez, and he was the first Mexican-American soldier to die for Gratiot County.

Eliud B. Sanchez was born in Pajarito, New Mexico, in October 1893. Both parents died when he was young, and his brother, Patricio, helped raise him, along with other brothers. In 1907, Eliud was admitted to the Menaul School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a Presbyterian boarding school founded in 1896 for Spanish-speaking boys.

In 1914, Sanchez graduated, and a year later, he came to Gratiot County, Michigan, to attend Alma College. Who helped him to make that decision, and how he got here is a mystery. At the time of Sanchez’s trip, Gratiot County, like many rural areas in Michigan, began to experience a growing need for migrant farm workers after the United States entered World War I. Farmers welcomed migrant workers, but with the idea that they would return to the South at the end of the harvest season.

Someone at the Menaul School saw promise in Sanchez and knew of Alma College. Even though the young man arrived in Alma without a penny, a place to stay, or a job, Eliud was eventually hired as the custodian at the Alma Presbyterian Church. Over the next three years, Sanchez became interested in astronomy and public speaking and was one of 35 members of Phi Phi Alpha Literary Society. One of the speeches he gave in a contest at Alma College was entitled “The City with the Soul.” Yet in most of his other classes, Eliud Sanchez was average at best. He appeared as a student who wanted an education and worked very hard at it, even though he had low grades.

After the United States declared war on Germany, Sanchez volunteered and left Alma College with another student to join the Army on May 13, 1917. Sanchez’s new goal was to become an officer, go to France, and fight the Germans. The Army sent Eliud to Fort Custer, then to Camp Pike, Arkansas, and finally to Camp Dix, New Jersey. By the time of his last assignment in the summer of 1918, he was a non-commissioned corporal and still had not made it to France. Was this because he had not finished his education? Other Alma College students had entered combat and were fighting in France. Or, was it because he was Mexican-American?

Still, Corporal Sanchez awaited going to France as a member of Battery E, 334th Field Artillery. On a warm summer day, August 20, 1918, Eliud was at a lake near Fort Dix, New Jersey, when he drowned in a swimming accident. No explanation or details about his death exist. Learning of Corporal Sanchez’s death back in Michigan, Dr. William H. Mason of Saginaw paid for Sanchez’s burial. Why Mason paid for the burial is unclear. Was Mason an Alma College graduate, a friend of Sanchez, or just someone who came forward to give a fallen soldier a proper funeral?

Upon Sanchez’s death, a photograph of him atop his horse appeared in the college newspaper, the Weekly Almanian, along with a comment that Eliud was remembered at Alma College as being “earnest, smiling, simple-hearted” and was now one of the college’s Gold Star soldiers. In 2013, a letter surfaced in New Mexico, written by one of Eliud’s brothers shortly after Eliud’s death, along with a photograph, the first since World War I.

Starting in 2017, I wrote biographies of the 30 men from Gratiot County on the Ithaca All-Wars Memorial who died in World War I, in remembrance of the war’s centennial. When I later found Sanchez’s resting place in Riverside Cemetery, I was moved by the marker’s location, as no one is buried within 10 feet of Sanchez. His location reflects the solitary life of a young man who worked and studied hard, desired an education, and wanted to serve his Gratiot County as an officer during World War I. Over 500 biographies of Gratiot County’s men and women, written by Fulton students and one teacher, can be found on Facebook at “Understanding Service – Remembering Gratiot County’s Veterans.” Also, “Thirty Who Dared to Serve Gratiot County in the Great War” can be found here at https://goodspeedgratiotcountyhistorical.blog and tells the stories of 30 men who died serving Gratiot County during World War I.

Copyright 2026 James M. Goodspeed