Or maybe not.

William H. Clancy took that honor.

Or maybe not.

Two soldiers, both with Bell County connections, claim to be the first to carry the U.S. flag into World War I. Both were serving with Canadian forces at the Battle of Vimy Ridge, Pas-de-Calais, France. Both were wounded. Both received national attention and accolades for their heroism. Arguments ensued, mostly through newspaper editorial pages, about which man should rightfully be honored.

Yet their claims created still-unresolved controversy. Bell County citizens favored Davis’ version, but Clancy’s gallant story had more traction.

The Canadian victory at Vimy Ridge on April 9-12, 1917, was the country’s defining moment, when it emerged from under Britain’s shadow. One Canadian brigadier general declared, “In those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation.”

Four Canadian divisions of 15,000 men stormed the ridge in the dark morning on April 9, just three days after the U.S. declared war against Germany. For the first time, the country’s divisions attacked together.

Eyewitnesses recounted countless acts of sacrifice, as Canadian forces single-handedly charged machine-gun nests and forced the surrender of Germans protected in dugouts.

Although the European conflict had been ongoing for two years, the April 6 U.S. war declaration stirred intense patriotic fervor in Central Texans. Temple citizens quickly put together a “loyalty parade” on April 17, which the Telegram described as “the greatest event ever staged in Temple and the most successfully conducted.” An estimated 6,000 marchers processed four-abreast throughout the city, and crowds were generously estimated at 25,000. On hand were Navy, Army and Marine recruiters signing up hearty Bell County men.

Recruiters were highly complimentary of Bell County men who enlisted. “These recruits are particularly pleasing since they are well set-up, clear eyed, muscular young men and of the very type desired for service,” wrote one Army Fort Sam Houston captain to the Bell County postmaster. A Navy captain also wrote, “Every applicant that you have sent me for enlistment has been very, very desirable, both physically and morally.” In all, more than 1,100 Bell County men served during the war.

Recruiters’ jobs eased as European press dispatches told of “a heroic young Texas soldier” and a “gallant young Texan” attached to a Canadian regiment. Accounts said when he heard that his country was now part of the conflict he wrapped the U.S. flag “like a shroud” and scampered up Vimy Ridge, fighting all the way until he fell seriously wounded. However, the young Texan was not identified.

Upon learning the story, Davis’ widowed mother Mrs. E.J. Davis contacted the Telegram and Canadian authorities - she assumed that wounded hero was her son because he lost his foot in the battle.

“The strongest link in the evidence that young Bob Davis is the hero … is the fact that no other Texan is known to have been a member of the Canadian regiment referred to,” the Telegram reported. Everyone jumped to the same conclusion, including the Texas House, which passed a resolution on April 24, praising Davis for his bravery.

Born in Williamson County in 1883, Davis moved with his family to Temple in 1886, where his father was pastor of First Presbyterian Church. The following year, the family moved to what the Telegram described as “the rocky fastness of northwestern Bell County near Bland,” 10 miles northwest of Belton on Owl Creek and now covered by Lake Belton.

Davis enlisted in the U.S. Marines in 1906, serving six years. When the European conflict broke out in 1914, he tried to reenlist because “the call of powder smell and the booming gun proved irresistible,” the Telegram reported. Denied reenlistment, he moved to Ontario, Canada, where he quickly rose through the ranks to company sergeant. His choice was expected: A Canadian by birth, Davis’ father fought with British forces on Vimy Ridge during the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.

All five dozen residents of Bland were “intoxicated with joy and patriotism and is celebrating in befitting manner the heroic act of her now famous citizen,” the Telegram said.

Newspapers from throughout the state picked up the Telegram story. As Davis lay in a Kent, England, hospital, he became an instant celebrity back home. He wrote to his family on April 20, saying he was well. “Thank God I am away from that awful slaughter house commonly known as the firing line. It is an awful war … We saw some awful sights.” But he never mentioned the flag story.

Meanwhile, back at the front, the cheers quickly faded as another Texas soldier - William H. Clancy, also with Bell County connections - claimed to be the first to carry the flag into World War I.

Clancy was born in Boston, but claimed Ipswich, N.Y., as his hometown. Clancy moved to Texas from New York with his father. Both worked on railroads between Hearne and Temple. For a time, Clancy claimed residency in both Robertson and Bell counties before he enlisted in the Canadian forces.

Newspapers reported Clancy’s claims by early May 1917, sometimes running Davis’ and Clancy’s versions side-by-side. By the time the New York Times on Sept. 2, 1917, carried a lengthy article on Clancy, his version became more embellished. The Times based its article on a letter Clancy wrote to his Texas friends back in Hearne. He described himself as “a homeless person, who put Old Glory on the battlefield on Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917.”

In the letter, Clancy said he was in Paris in 1914. When war broke out, he headed for England to join the British Field Artillery as a private. By March 1915, he returned in France to fight with the British. He was wounded at least twice in two previous skirmishes before he fought at Vimy Ridge.

On Sunday, April 8, 1917, while anticipating the first assault up the ridge, he heard that the U.S. had entered the war two days before. The next morning, he heard the command, “Over the top and best of luck, for victory we want.” Clancy’s regiment was in the first line to storm the ridge. “I tied ‘Old Glory’ to my bayonet and made the charge. It was the happiest day of my life, I assure you,” he wrote.

The flag created its own magic. As opposing forces glimpsed the Stars and Bars, they “were struck dumb. They did not know what it all meant. But they soon found out. I was coolheaded, I assure you,” he said.

A few minutes later, a fellow soldier from Newark, N.J., collapsed near him in a hail of bullets. Clancy melodramatically described his comrade’s final minutes: “The last words he said were: ‘Bill Clancy, I am glad I gave my life for the freedom of the world.’ He died in my arms. So I let him lie, but just before he died, he kissed my flag. ‘Old Glory,’ he said. And I told him: ‘Yes, Old Glory, and new glory, too.’ Poor chap.”

He then described how he was wounded shortly after his friend’s death. He signed his letter, as if to stress, “the first American who put the Stars and Stripes on the battlefield.”

During Clancy’s recovery in a British hospital, the U.S. ambassador sent his personal thanks. As a result, Clancy was the only soldier with British forces allowed to wear the U.S. flag on his left sleeve.

Clancy’s gift of drama, pushed along by the literary clout from the New York Times, took him far. “Yes, Old Glory and new glory, too!” became watchwords for incoming soldiers. By September 1918, Clancy again rejoined his British comrades, when he was killed.

Six months after Armistice on Nov. 11, 1918, the question of who carried the first flag was still unresolved. Davis returned footless to Bland; Clancy rested in a French cemetery. Since the four Canadian divisions with 15,000 soldiers attacked together, both men’s stories may have been correct. Or maybe their tales swelled larger than them.

Nevertheless, no one disputed that Bell County and Texas led the charge into the Great War.

Editors’ note: This series on the year 1918 began with the war to end all wars. Today, on Veterans Day, we remember two soldiers who put Bell County in the national news. Wednesday: The epidemic that took millions of lives.