Harwell Goodwin Davis Library: Major Harwell Davis

Published on November 8, 2017

Harwell Goodwin Davis Library, constructed in 1956, is named for Samford's president from 1939 to 1958. Major Davis won commendation for his service in World War I, during which he witnessed a scene in the Argonne Forest in France that altered his calling in life. Listen to Davis explain his inspiration and conviction to accept the presidency of Howard College.

Transcript

HARWELL DAVIS: ?At the time I was asked to be president of Howard College, I was the tax
collector for the United States government for the State of Alabama, Collector
of Internal Revenue. It was a good position, and I thought it carried the
promise of an assured future. One day, Mr. Crawford Johnson came to my, called
at my office. He stated that he had been appointed to suggest a president for
Howard College. Then I realized, probably from newspaper accounts, that it was a
difficult position. He said that he knew that there were a good many men that
were able to handle the job but he considered that I was the most available. And
he said that if I would accept the position, that he would support me with his
time and his money. When this offer got some publicity, there began to build a
pressure that I accept the position. Not so much, in my opinion, to secure my
services as president as to secure the financial support of Mr. Johnson. He was
a liberal multi-millionaire. But it was not this pressure that caused me to
accept the position. One afternoon, during World War I, I was ordered to move my
command into position where I could, under cover of darkness, move into a gap in
the front line and be ready to attack at the H-Hour the next morning. To reach
that position, it was necessary to march several kilometers through what had
been battlefield a few days before and from which we had not been able to remove
all of our dead. As I was marching with my command to reach the position I saw a
young officer, sitting by the side of the road, leaning against the bank of a
small cut we were passing through. My first impression was that he had not been
in an attack because his uniform was not soiled. He looked so life-like that I
decided that he had fallen asleep from fatigue and I went across to wake him and
tell him to join his command. When I reached him, and placed my hand on him, I
found that he had been killed. In that dramatic moment, I realized as never
before that I was travelling along that road in the twilight of that afternoon
in virtual safety because that young man, and others like him, had given his
life to clear the way. And in that moment, I resolved, that if I should return
to my native land, that I would endeavor to serve my God and my fellow man a
little better than I had in the past. So while Mr. Johnson was talking about
Howard College and its presidency, somehow I was seeing that handsome young
officer sitting beside the road in the Argonne Forest in France. And it almost
seemed to me that he was asking if I remembered the resolution that I made that day. What was the verse that Colonel McCrae said in his poem "In Flanders Field?" "To you, from failing hands, we throw the torch. Be yours to hold it high. If you break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders Field." As illogical as it might seem as a valid reason on which to base a serious action, to me it was a challenge to keep faith with that resolution. A challenge somehow that I did not dare ignore.

Audio Information
Attribute	Value
Interviewee	Major Harwell G. Davis
Repository	Samford University Oral History Collection
Collection	University Library, Special Collection and University Archives