Forgotten among the local World War I soldiers appearing on the county's Victory Byway Memorial was the name of James Warren.

James L. Warren was born in Watsonville, California, December 14, 1888, to William and Elizabeth Warren. He spent his formative years in the family home on Carr Street in Watsonville and along with his brother Thomas, attended local schools. In 1910 James was employed as a machinist in Watsonville and continued to live in the family residence that his brother had acquired. He later moved to San Francisco where he worked as a mechanical engineer for the I. S. Smith Company.

On June 5, 1917, James Warren registered for the draft and was described as being single, of medium height and stature, with brown hair and brown eyes. Private Warren was undergoing training at Camp Meade, Maryland, when he contracted the Spanish flu. On March 12, 1918, the Watsonville Register-Pajaronian reported:

“DIED: At the military Cantonment in Maryland March 1918 of pneumonia James Warren, formerly a resident of Watsonville.”

During the time of his death, that cantonment was reporting an increase in the number of influenza cases. The location of the remains of James L. Warren has not been identified.

(CAG; USCR, 1900; 1910 US Census, CA, Santa Cruz; WWIDR; WRP March 12, 1918 page 3:3)