Henry Francis Marsh was born in Alameda, California, May 23d, 1892. He was a grandson of Henry Francis Marsh, who went to San Francisco in the year 1869 and engaged in the wholesale glass business, and a son of Henry Francis Marsh II, of the firm of Marsh & Kidd Company in San Francisco. His grandfather on his mother’s side was John Henry Kemp, also a pioneer, who settled in San Francisco in 1850, Sergeant Marsh came to Nevada in 1915, settling on a Government homestead at Vya in Washoe County. He was improving his holdings when the call for men went out to the Nation, and young Marsh, refusing to claim exemption as a farm owner, gladly entered the service. (September 21st 1917).

Until October 25th he served in the 130th Company, 166th Depot Brigade, when he was transferred to the Machine Gun Company of the 362d Infantry. He was made Private, First Class, January 1st, 1918, Corporal, May 25th, 1918, and Sergeant, June 14th, 1918. In July he landed overseas with the 91st Division.

On the night of July 23d, 1918, while in a train en route to the front, another train crashed into the rear end of the troop train. This accident occurred at Bonnieres, a village in France, and resulted in the death of twenty-nine men of the Machine Gun Company. Sergeant Marsh and Charles Gifford, a Churchill County soldier, were among those who lost their lives.

The soldiers were buried in a little cemetery at Freneuse, with Military Honors conducted by the French, Belgian and American troops. Their loss was most deeply felt by all members of the regiment, and especially by their brother machine gunners. The soldier’s mother, Mrs. Nellie F. Norton, lives at Vya, Nevada. Mr. Allen P. Norton, the Sergeant’s stepfather, was a lieutenant in the 36th Regiment, U. S. V. during the Spanish American War and Philippine Insurrection. One brother, Delano E. Marsh, also resides at Vya.