Lt. Col. Jesse “Jay” Mechem
Silver Star
Jesse Mechem, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Mechem was born in Arkansas on June 19, 1910. Moving first to Alamogordo and then eventually to Las Cruces, the family was active in New Mexico politics. Jesse’s uncle, Merritt Mechem, would serve as Governor, his father would serve as Mayor of Las Cruces and his brother Edwin would go on the serve as Governor, the first former student from NMAMC to do so. After graduation from Las Cruces HS in 1928, Jesse left to attend Stanford. The following year he returned home and enrolled at NMAMC in the fall of 1929. He was an outstanding student, leader of the Aggie Football team, class president of his senior class and selected as the greatest Aggie for 1933. In May of 1933 he graduated with honors receiving his degree in History and Economics. The following year he taught at Tucumcari HS where he also served as coach for their football team. In 1936 he was allowed to enter the US Army under the Thompson Act which accepted 100 ROTC graduates to become career officers.
He was commissioned at Fort Huachuca. While there he met Ruth Cole Burr, the daughter of a medical corps officer. They would marry in 1937. He served with the 25th, 19th and 30th Army Divisions. He and Ruth were stationed at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii from 1939 to 1941. In 1942 the Army activated the 382nd Infantry Regiment and Jay was given command of the 1st Battalion as the unit was formed and brought into fighting readiness. Their first campaign was the invasion of Leyte Philippines on October 20, 1944 as part of the 96th Infantry Division. Landing as part of the first wave, the 96th was given the task of expanding the beach head. Moving inland across flooded rice paddies the unit moved forward against entrenched Japanese positions in the highlands overlooking the beaches. The battalion moved with such dispatch that it outdistanced its own supply lines and depended upon natives to carry much needed ammunition in to them. Troops of the 1st Battalion later credited the training that Lt Col Mechem had led as instrumental in not only their battlefield success but their own survival in these days. On October 29, after nine straight days in combat, the 1st Battalion was turning to the northeast along the Dagami – Tanuan Road. Before them was a ridge that was the main line of defense for the Japanese intent on denying control of this vital transportation link to the Americans. The following is an excerpt from the award of the Silver Star to Lt Col Mechem:
“When the advance of Col Mechem’s infantry battalion was slowed down by intense enemy fire he immediately joined his troops in contact with reckless disregard for his own personal safety. He personally led and directed the attack until he fell mortally wounded”
His last command to his men was that they should not place themselves in danger in trying to carry him back. The battalion was forced to withdraw 1000 yards. That night a party led by the Battalion XO went forward under cover of darkness and recovered his body. Two days later the men gained the ridgeline under direct charge and renamed it Mechem Ridge in his honor. His family did not learn of his death until November 22, 1944, just before Thanksgiving. He was survived by his wife and their daughter Elizabeth. In July of 1949 his body was returned to his home town and reinterred at the Las Cruces Masonic Cemetery. Lt Col Jesse Jay Mechem was 35 years of age at the time of his death.