SOLD! World War I Army Purple Heart Medal item #33077

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SOLD! Type-1 1932 Bailey Banks & Biddle Co. World War I Army Purple Heart Medal #33077. Engraved “Daniel J. Ennis”. Bottom box titled & dated with matching #33077. Includes original War Department Purple Heart document, & Order of the Purple Heart Denver Chapter pamphlet & newspaper article owned by the veterans son. Note written on the back of the newspaper article: “My Dad regular Army, 30th Infantry, 3rd Division wounded under gunfire, shrapnel Purple Heart W.W.I (1918)”. 

United States Army 1st Sergeant Daniel Joseph Ennis (service Nọ 546881) was born January 12th 1884, (although corrected to 1887 in other documents) in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In 1900 at 17 years old Daniel worked as a Baker and in 1910 he was working as a clerk at the Union Depot in Connecticut.  

Daniel enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army, Company G, 30th Infantry in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 5th 1917, the day before the U.S. entered the 1st World War. Ennis was promoted to Pvt. 1st class on September 1st 1917.  The 3rd Division including the 30th Infantry was organized in November 1917 at Camp Greene, North Carolina,  under the 6th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Division later known as the “Rock of the Marne”. Training began in late November 1917, and in December 1917 and January 1918. 

Private 1st class Ennis was promoted to Corporal on January 8th, and Sergeant on February 23rd 1918. He sailed for Europe from New York, N.Y. aboard the R.M.S. Aquitania on April 2nd 1918, as part of the American Expeditionary Force. 

Ennis was promoted to 1st Sergeant and in late May, the 3rd Infantry Division deployed their soldiers including Company G, 30th Infantry to France to assist their beleaguered allies with the hopes of turning back the ferocious advancing German fighting force. During the Second Battle of Marne where the 30th Infantry held off 25 German counterattacks, 1st Sgt. Ennis was severely wounded by gunfire on June 6th 1918. Ennis was evacuated from the battlefield and recovered from his wounds over the next 3 months in France, returning to the United States on October 20th 1918. He was honorably discharged from the Army on December 27th 1918. The 3rd Infantry Division’s historic fight against the German Army changed the course of the war and led to the Allied Forces victory. Daniel was awarded this Purple Heart Medal #33077 on March 25th 1933 for his wounds received in the World War. 

During the 1930’s Daniel worked as a collector of apparel, by the 1940’s he was a garage attendant for the city and county of Denver Colorado. He was married and had a son. United States Army 1st Sergeant Daniel Joseph Ennis passed away December 9th 1953 and is buried at the Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery. Wheat Ridge, Jefferson County, Colorado.