4: World WAR II-P. Frank Jr Is Drafted into the U.S. Army

Episode 13 Part 1: P. Frank Jr. Is drafted into the U.S.Army

The first 12 episode of my family writings dealt with the history of slavery in the United States. My paternal family is part of that history, the history I discovered conducting research. The next part of my writings will include the letters I found upon my father’s passing. I think he was well aware that these letters would one day be found for in the stack of letters was found the first letter I was able to receive from my birth mother. So why this story?

My sister once asked, if in an interview, why I wanted to publish this very personal story, so I thought of the different themes intertwined throughout: 

1. It illustrates that some people working in governmental agencies have unique and interesting ways to hide the truth. 

2. The story is international in scope, involving lawyers from four different countries. 

3. Illustrates the workings of the U.S. Civilian Service grievance system at the time when the work place discrimination action in this story was filed. And letters from the NAACP in regard to that discrimination.

4. The issues Black families face in just trying to survive in a nation that still regards many of them as second class citizens.

5. Involves historical and political figures. 

6. I wanted the letters, affidavits, and government documents to tell the story and 

7. Last but not least, but most importantly, children are usually the big losers in the divorce fight between their parents.

In episode 11 I stated that P. Frank was drafted into the army while working for the Ford Motor Company. BTW, my dad hated his first name Percy. He always went by P. Frank or just Frank. When he passed in 2002 the VA was going to list his name as Percy, but my sister told them he hated that name and wanted Frank. She was told they could not do that. But they were Ok with P. Frank, so that’s the name on his interment site at the Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego.

World War II came along and in November 1942, P. Frank Jr. was drafted into the Army, sent to Camp Custer, Michigan and then on to Fort Riley Kansas for basic training — the remnants of the famous Buffalo soldiers were there. While in Basic Training he was asked if he knew anything about “automotives.” So he told them about his Ford Motor Company experience. That is how he ended up in the horse cavalry unit, also known as the Cavalry Replacement Training Center. In fact “…those guys who knew about horses were put into automotive units.”

P. Frank Jr. dressed in his Calvary outfit.

He couldn’t recall anyone who liked Basic Training, and P. Frank Jr was no exception. “[He] hated Basic Training because the non-commissioned officers were so rude and mean, and as a [recruit] you had no right to demand human respect. And you had to show great respect to the young white lieutenants and say “Yes Sir” while they handed you a ‘bucket of’ $#@+ [he] used to walk a mile out of his way to keep from having to salute them.”

In May 1943 he was transferred to the Ordnance Replacement Training Center. “That year was the coldest, snowiest winter on record. But as luck would have it, [he] spent that cold in the warmth of the hospital due to ptomaine poisoning from eating a meal at the mess hall.” On the day of discharge from the hospital, he received orders transferring him to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. He had written to Adam Clayton Powell, the only “Black U.S. of A. Congressman representing Harlem, New York City” explaining that he knew nothing about horses and that his skills could be better served as a draftsman.

“After a big public fight, Adam Clayton Powell eventually got kicked out of Congress because he insisted upon taking the same privileges as other congresspersons. This included special favors for friends, extended vacations, junkets to Paris, Amsterdam, etc. He felt he should not have been discriminated against. If it was fair for them, it was fair for him.”

“It was night when [P. Frank] arrived at Aberdeen, [and] the night duty sergeant didn’t know what to do with [him.] So [he was] put up with the white soldiers. But this was a great error and was corrected by day break! P. Frank was sent to an all Black unit at the far end of the camp. [He] was sent there to do drafting, but they had no facilities for a Black draftsman.” So he was set up in a room all to himself, given the tools needed to design an obstacle course for Black units. Eventually he was assigned two other draftsmen to help him. P. Frank “really enjoyed [his] stay at Aberdeen. He was doing the work he enjoyed, and the soldiers and officers respected him for his professionalism. Aberdeen was only 30 miles from Baltimore where he had a girlfriend and 60 miles from Washington D.C. where he could visit his Aunt Hazel and Aunt Irma, his father’s sisters. And with a weekend pass given to him almost every weekend, New York wasn’t that far away for a visit.”

After being stationed at Aberdeen for nearly 18 months, P. Frank received orders to go overseas. He traveled on a large unescorted troop ship and prayed the entire journey to not get torpedoed by a German submarine. Upon docking at Liverpool, England, he “…was flabbergasted to see white guys sweeping the streets and portering. [He] had never seen this before. In the United States, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, only Black guys did that kind of work.

Once in England, he was “…assigned to a motor vehicle delivery unit whose job was to take ordnance to forward area depots. The job allowed him “…to tour all over Scotland and England, because they were building up armaments all over the British Isles. And later all over France, Belgium, and Holland.”

Later, P. Frank would write, “When you are in the Army you don’t know what’s going on because they won’t tell you. They tell you only what to do…and you do it! And you don’t ask questions. But I do believe it was the second day of the ‘D’ Day Invasion that my unit landed in France. We drove our vehicles off landing crafts into water up to our waists. The vehicles had been prepared to drive through water.” Throughout this period of the war, he continued delivering armaments to the forward areas. “At one point that forward area was just outside of Paris …a place called Chateau de Vincennes. After a while, the area became [his] unit’s headquarters.”

Episode 14, Part 2: When P. Frank met Sophie.

Adam Clayton Powell https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adam-Clayton-Powell-Jr

Chateau de Vincennes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Château_de_Vincennes

This will be the last post for the next two weeks. I’m traveling to Maine to do some wildlife photography and to see my Heavy Metal singer Veronica. I haven’t seen her in more than seven years. If I can, I will try to post a few photos during that trip.