James Caddell; Won Legion of Honor

James Caddell, 101, World War I veteran who was awarded the Legion of Honor, France’s highest medal, in 1999. To mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War I, the French government two years ago launched a search for all surviving U.S. soldiers who served in France during the war that was to end all wars. An estimated 1,600 of those soldiers, called doughboys, were still alive in 1998. One of 650 honored so far was Caddell, who signed up for the Army when he was 17 and served with an all-black regiment of the 312th Service Battalion of the Army Quartermaster Corps in the American Expeditionary Force. The native of Utica, Miss., arrived in France in April 1918 and was assigned to unload and ferry war materials to the front. When he returned to the U.S. in September 1919, he worked as a butcher, a waiter and a cook. He eventually joined Ringling Bros. Circus, performing odd jobs. When the circus stopped in Los Angeles, he quit and found a job driving trucks. He later joined the California National Guard and served as a military policeman in Europe and the Pacific when his unit was activated during World War II. Many years later a serious illness forced doctors to amputate his left leg below the knee. He spent his last years living at a nursing home run by the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Medical Center. Caddell was presented the Legion of Honor on Aug. 11, 1999, during a ceremony at Patriotic Hall in Los Angeles. He was the first African American in Southern California to receive the award. On Thursday at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center Nursing Home.