James Hemphill was born in Chester. S. C., on April 27, 1897. He received his preparatory education in the Porter Military Academy, Charlestown, where he was a Captain and president of his class. He entered Brown University in September, 1916. He went overseas as a Private with Battery C, 103rd Field Artillery Regiment, 26th Division, although, had he wished, his training would have fitted him for an officers' training school. It was while his battery was moving to the front during the March drive of 1918 that he was killed. He died on March 30, 1918 and is now buried in Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Departement de la Meuse, Lorraine, France.