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| Photo taken around March 1, 1923 when Fred was 15 weeks old. |
Grade school photo probably taken when he was in 4th grade (1931) |
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| Fred with his grandparents | Family photo taken in early 1942 |
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At some point Fred's unit shipped out to England where training continued for some period of time. This would have been in preparation for OPERATON TORCH, the invasion of North Africa which began on November 8, 1942. This photo of Fred (seen standing on the right) was taken somewhere in England, probably in the fall of 1942. The scenery and the fact that he has no medals or campaign ribbons leads me to believe this was taken before he shipped out to North Africa.
On June 28, 1943 his family received a telegram from Washington informing them that Fred had been Wounded in Action in the North Africa area on April 3rd. Luckily they had already received a letter from Fred himself in which he let them know the details and that he was in good condition and already back with his unit. He suffered a shrapnel wound to his right shoulder and after spending several weeks in the hospital he was returned to full duty with his unit. He received his first Purple Heart medal for this wound. This wound was serious enough that he could have requested to go home but his family said that he told them that he and his unit had "gone over together and they would come home together" when it was all over. Sadly that wasn't to be the case. Below is a copy of the telegram the family received. After North Africa the 16th Infantry Regiment landed in Sicily. They fought in Italy until they were returned to England in preparation for the D-Day landings. These three campaigns earned Fred three stars on his European, African, Middle Eastern Campaign Medal seen on the left. Fred earned the coveted Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB), the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, the European, African, Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 3 stars, the American Defense Medal (not shown) and the Good conduct Medal. 
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 A Coast Guard-manned LCVP from the USS Samuel Chase APA-26 disembarks Company E, 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment assaulting Omaha Beach on the morning of June 6, 1944. Photographed by Robert F. Sargent, USCG. The view Fred saw would have looked virtually identical to this. |
On D-Day he was with Company "A", 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division. He landed on Omaha Beach in the EASY RED section in the 3rd wave at H+70 (70 minutes after the first boats landed). Machine gun and mortar fire on this section of the beach was withering. He was stationed in the rear of the landing craft he came ashore in. His best friend, who was stationed in the front of the boat was killed before he ever got off of the ramp. After wading ashore, Fred made it up onto the beach but was killed approximately 30 minutes later. His cause of death is listed as a gun shot wound to the chest. Of the approximately 73,000 Americans who landed in France on D-Day (23,250 on UTAH Beach, 34,250 on OMAHA Beach and 15,500 Airborne troops) over 2,200 were killed. Fred was one of them.  |
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Immediately after D-Day and in the following weeks and months, the bodies of soldiers were retrieved from temporary battlefield graves and consolidated into temporary cemeteries constructed by the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS). After the war the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) was created and charged with the task of designing, building and maintaining permanent overseas cemeteries to hold the remains of service men and women whose families elected to have them interred overseas. Permanent burials were performed by the AGRS. The monument on the left marks the location of the temporary cemetery set up on Omaha Beach. Fred was buried here on June 9th at 5:00 PM in Plot "A", Row 6, grave 111. Buried on Fred's right was Pvt Jay Mabee who was killed on June 7th. On his left was Pvt James D Whited who died on June 6th. Fred's personal effects were gathered and returned to his family.
Permanent burial would have to wait until the war ended. Back home in Easton, PA a funeral mass was said in Fred's honor at St Joseph's Church on Tuesday August 7, 1945. Fred was finally laid to rest for the last time on April 6, 1947 in Plot "G", Row 20, Grave 23 of the Normandy American Cemetery which sits on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach where he was killed. Many people wonder about the decision thousands of American families made to leave their sons and daughters in overseas cemeteries. In the case of Fred's family the decision was made based on how much the family had suffered when they first learned of his death. In 1947 the family decided that it would be too painful to bring his body home and have to go through another funeral and the pain that would have caused. In the end it was less painful for the family to have Fred reburied with the men he fought and died with. Based on the numbers of men from the 16th Inf he is among friends.  |
 SGT 16 INF 1 DIV PENNSYLVANIA JUNE 6 1944 Inscription on Fred's headstone Photo taken Tuesday May 16, 2006 |
 This photo was taken of Fred's grave on what would have been his 86th birthday, October 22, 2008. |
 Fred's grave on October 22, 2009 |
 The location of Fred's grave is maked by the small red dot just over half way down in the right hand side of this aerial photo. |
 Fred's grave in Section "G". |
