US Army PFC Fred "Freddie" Perry McDaniel Jr. was born in Solono County, California on September 11, 1928, the son of Fred "Freddie" P. Sr. (1900-1968) and Eileen Margaret Jeffrey (1909-1970) who married in 1934. His father served in WWI from 1917-1920 with Motor Company "C" of the 2nd Supply Train as a corporal in the 2nd Division attached to the Quartermaster Corps. He returned to Pensacola from Europe aboard the SS Leviathan sailing from Brest, France on July 30, 1919, and arriving in Hoboken, NJ on August 6th. He had also once been a policeman in Pensacola as well as the Chief of Police in Ft. Walton. He and his sister Andez E. McDaniel were raised by his grandparents, Spanish War Veteran John William Mann (1874-1947) and Annie Bell (1884-1961). His grandfather was the engineer for the Saenger Theater downtown and was killed from an explosion in the air conditioning room of the theater.
As for Fred Jr., he attended Catholic primary school in 1941 and would later become a paper carrier for the Pensacola News Journal. He would enlist in the US Army on June 22, 1946, and served with the occupation forces in Japan (reenlisted after his discharge on May 7, 1948). He was sent to Korea in September 1950 only ten weeks after the war began He was assigned to Company "D" of the 3rd Engineer Combat Battalion of the 24th Infantry Division.
Upon his arrival, he set about his duties building roads and bridges and whatever it took to keep the UN forces in the fight. In May through June of 1951 the UN forces launched another counter-offensive that pushed the North Koreans backwards toward the north, recapturing the territory lost to the enemy in April. This period of the war found both sides fighting bitterly as they pushed each other back and forth. It was also during this time that Feddie was killed in action from stomach wounds received in the fighting. Few details about his death are available but regardless he gave his life for his country.
His grandmother Annie received a telegram from the War Department at her house at 310 East Intendencia Street that her grandson had been killed. His wife Dosha (or Desha) "Dosie" Faye Smith McDaniel was also notified and chose to bring his remains home from Korea for burial in the Highland Cemetery in her home town of Lawton, Oklahoma.
Comentários