Frederick Horace Fritzmeier
2nd Lieutenant
442nd Regimental Combat Team
3rd Battalion, L Company
Frederick Horace Fritzmeier was born on January 5, 1920, in Fall Creek, Illinois. He was the son of the Reverend William and Villa Elizabeth (Ahlhauser) Fritzmeier. His father’s full name was Friedrich Heinrich Simon Wilhelm Fritzmeier, and he was born in 1868 in Detmold, Germany, arriving in the US in 1881. William attended Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois, and the Chicago Theological Seminary. Rev. Fritzmeier served as a Congregational minister for 55 years. By his first wife, Thekla Menzel, William had children Clara, Theodore Otto, and William Herbert. By his second wife, Villa, he had: Robert William, Richard George, Dorothy, John Elvier, and Frederick Horace (known as Fred).
The family moved around during Fred’s childhood. By 1930, they were living in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. After two years of attending Tarentum High School, Fred left school to work. By 1940, he was the last child living with his parents in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and his father was retired. He worked for Gillette’s Tire Company.
Fred signed his draft registration card on July 1, 1941, in Fall Creek, Local Board No. 2 at the Court House Annex. His point of contact was his sweetheart, Miss Gladys M. Everson of Osseo, Wisconsin. He was employed by Gillette’s U.S. Rubber Company on Wisconsin Street in Eau Claire. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and he was 6’1/2” tall and weighed 163 pounds. It was reported in the local newspaper, Leader-Telegram, that on July 18 at the Eau Claire County draft board lottery drawing for “order of service for 21-year-olds,” Fritzmeier’s serial number. number 39, was drawn third. This meant that his name would be “placed after number 461, and other new registrants will be inserted every 14 names.”
On October 14, Fritzmeier was among the 196 men of northwestern Wisconsin counties who underwent medical examinations by a group of Army military doctors and medics at an induction center set up at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire. From his draft board, 25 men were examined and 18 passed. On October 25, he and 12 others from Eau Claire left by train for the Army Reception Center at Fort Sheridan, about 30 miles north of Chicago, Illinois. His selectee number was the highest of the group – S-475. The men took the “400” train to Milwaukee where they changed to a north shore local train to Fort Sheridan.
On October 27, 1941, Fred Fritzmeier enlisted in the U.S. Army at Fort Sheridan. His enlistment papers indicated that he had completed two years of high school, and his civilian occupation was “Unskilled manufacture of textiles.” Our research did not reveal where he was sent for basic training.
Corporal Fritzmeier left the US in April 1942 to serve in the Panama Canal Zone as part of the Panama Mobile Force. This unit, activated on February 16, 1940, comprised four infantry and one engineer regiments and two artillery battalions. Their mission was to improve the defenses of the Panama Canal Zone. Fritzmeier served at the Mobile Force Division Headquarters as a topographical draftsman for 17 months. He was promoted to Sergeant in February 1943.
Right: Corp. Fritzmeier, 1942
Technician 4th Grade Fred Fritzmeier returned to the US in July 1943. He had been accepted for Infantry Officer Candidate School (OCS) and soon left for Fort Benning, Georgia. In August he was granted a brief furlough to return home to Wisconsin. He married Gladys M. Everson in a candlelight ceremony on August 14 at the Lutheran Church. She was the daughter of Theodore and Hilda Everson of Osseo.
Below: Wedding photo of Fred and Gladys Fritzmeier, 1943
Upon graduation, he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant on January 6 and transferred to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Once at Camp Shelby in early 1944, Fritzmeier was assigned to 3rd Battalion, L Company.
After months of basic, unit, and specialized training and field maneuvers, the 442nd was ready to leave Camp Shelby for the Theater of War. Lt. Fritzmeier left by train with the Combat Team on April 22, 1944, for Camp Patrick Henry, Virigina. They shipped out in a convoy of about 100 ships from nearby Hampton Roads on May 2. Third Battalion was on the Victory Ship S.S. George W. Campbell. Years later, Master Sergeant Jun Yamamoto recalled that once they were aboard the ship, he and Lt. Fritzmeier were observing the city skyline and sunset and thinking that this would be their last time to see home and the US. Captain John Jett, L Company commander, walked up and, as though he had read their minds, said: “I will do my best to bring you and your men home.”
The Combat Team arrived on May 28, 1944, at Naples, Italy. From there, the 442nd marched five miles to nearby Bagnoli, where they went into bivouac. On June 6, they sailed from Naples on LSTs for the overnight trip to Anzio. After arriving, they were sent by truck around the newly-liberated city of Rome about 50 miles north to Civitavecchia where they arrived on June 11. They went into a large bivouac and made final preparations before moving north to the front lines in the Rome-Arno Campaign.
On June 24, L Company travelled by motor convoy to the forward assembly area four miles northwest of Gavoranno. The next day they marched five miles to another assembly area.
When the 442nd entered combat on June 26, 1944, near Suvereto, L Company was a support company, in reserve and ready for action. After the successful action to take Suvereto, L Company occupied the town at about 5:00 p.m. with no casualties. L Company then advanced under cover of darkness to the outskirts of Sassetta where they bivouacked for the night. The next day, June 27, they engaged the enemy. That evening they were hit by a German artillery barrage. They were then directed to push northwest and seize Castagnetto. Soon after dark they were hit by an ambush of two machine guns, one or two 81mm mortars, and several rifles. Lt. Fred H. Fritzmeier was killed this day in one of these actions.
M/Sgt. Yamamoto, who would later become a historian of L Company, wrote in his diary:
Co. lost contact after dark. Hit Jerry bivouac area behind the lines. Worst “night” of the campaign for Livorno.
Lt. Fred H. Fritzmeier was buried about 30 miles south in the new American Cemetery at Follonica, Plot C, Row 9, Site 392. He was survived by his wife, one son (born after his father’s death), his parents, and his brothers John, Richard, and Robert who were all serving in the military.
On August 27, 1944, a Memorial Service was held for Lt. Fritzmeier at 2:00 p.m. at the Osseo Lutheran Church. And on October 1, a Memorial Service was held at 11:00 a.m. in the First Congregational Church in Eau Claire for Lt. Fred H. Fritzmeier and Lt. Richard Rist, both of whom were members of the church who had recently been killed in action. The Reverend Maurice Haehlen officiated at the service and the American Legion participated.
At the end of September, Mrs. Fred Fritzmeier received the Purple Heart Medal that was posthumously awarded to her husband. On October 7, 1944, their son was born at Luther Hospital in Eau Claire.
For his military service, 2nd Lieutenant Fred H. Fritzmeier received the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze star, World War II Victory Medal, and Combat Infantryman Badge. Fritzmeier was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on October 5, 2010, along with the other veterans of the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team. This is the highest Congressional Civilian Medal.
In 1948 the next of kin of the country’s fallen soldiers who had been buried in wartime cemeteries overseas were offered the opportunity to have their loved one returned home or reburied at one of the few overseas cemeteries that would remain. His widow chose to have Lt. Fritzmeier remain in Italy. He was moved from his initial place of burial at Follonica (which was then closed) and reburied at the Florence American Cemetery, Plot G, Row 10, Site 33.
Lt. Fritzmeier’s widow, Gladys, remarried on September 18, 1948, in Eau Claire to Bailen Gilford Faldet. In 1958, they moved to Rochester, Minnesota. They had one son, and raised him with her son by her first marriage. Gladys was a member of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Auxiliary. Faldet served in the U.S. Army in World War II and Korea as a Sergeant 1st Class. Gladys died on April 19, 1992, age 71, at the Samaritan Bethany Nursing Home in Rochester. Survivors included her second husband, two sons, three grandchildren, and one great-grandson. She was buried at Grandview Memorial Gardens in Rochester. Bailen Faldet, known as Bill, died January 18, 2004, in Rochester.
His two half-brothers, Theodore Otto and William Herbert, served in World War I. Theodore was in the 526th Infantry, 82nd Division. His three brothers served in World War II. Brother Sgt. Robert William Fritzmeier served in the 357th Infantry, 90th Division, and was killed in action on February 9, 1945, in Habscheid, Germany. Sgt. Fritzmeier was buried in Henri-Chappelle American Cemetery in Liège, Belgium. Brother Richard was in the U.S. Navy in North Africa. Brother John was a U.S. Army Chaplain at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin.
Right: Fred’s brother Sgt. Robert W. Fritzmeier
Researched and written by the Sons & Daughters of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in 2024.