Today on Gus’ Gear I present another personal history of the Great War. Frank K. Frankenfield was a Cadillac automobile mechanic before the United States entered the war in 1917. He enlisted and volunteered for the United States Army Ambulance Service. Personnel for the USAAS were trained at Camp Crane in Allentown, Pennsylvania, not far from Frank’s home. Being a mechanic, he had an important skill that was needed to service the new vehicles that were transporting wounded from the front to the hospitals. At Camp Crane he learned how to service Ford Model T cars, as they were very different from the cars he was accustomed to working on. I acquired the Frankenfield grouping from an ebay seller who bought it at Frank’s son’s estate sale.
This is a photo of Frank K. Frankenfield on leave at home with a friend before shipping off to France.
This is Mec. Frankenfield’s uniform (the breaches and boots are not a part of the grouping and are the only things added for display purpose). His tunic bears the Cock shoulder insignia of the USAAS, two service stripes and a discharge stripe on the left sleeve and the Mechanic’s Pfc insignia on the right sleeve. His gas mask bag bears his name and his initials are painted inside the rim of his helmet.
The grouping consists of his uniform, personal items, two diaries (1918 and 1919), a New Testament and a French conversation guide.
A number of letters and post cards.
Over 400 photographs, with most of them captioned.
His Service medal, membership card to the United States Army Ambulance Service Association, a mechanic’s insignia, personal cigarette lighter and his Victory Bar with four stars
This is Frank K. Frankenfield’s troop billet for his passage on the U.S.S. Orizaba to France. It has his name and service number written on the back and on the front are places to mark when he had been through the mess line. The Honor Pass was issued while he was at Camp Crane, but as it was not dated or a location designated, he and the other men of Evacuation Ambulance Company # 8 were able to use these passes in France to enter the City of Toul which was off limits without a pass.
This is Frank’s mess kit, wash cloth and ditty bag.
When the grouping arrived nearly a decade ago, I commented to Maggie that there was a book in the collection. I did a search for Frank Frankenfield and found that a book had been written in 1920 titled “United States Lawn Tennis Association and the Great War.” During the First World War, ambulances were paid for by private parties. The United States Lawn Tennis Association held fund raising events all over the United States to raise money to finance two ambulance companies. They raised a total of $58,846.72 for Section 603 and Company #8. $32,000 was earmarked for the purchase of 40 Ford Model T ambulances, but when Section 603 and Company #8 arrived in Europe, they found a surplus of Model 16 GMC ambulances available and each unit was equipped with 12 GMC ambulances. Mechanic Frankenfield was able to utilize his training as a Cadillac mechanic as the GMC vehicles were very different from the Ford Model Ts.
In 2015, the book “Evacuation Ambulance Company #8 in World War One” was published from the letters, diaries and photos of the Frankenfield collection. It is currently in the second printing and paper bound copies are available.
Here is a photograph of most of the GMC ambulances and the Packard truck used by Evacuation Ambulance Company #8.
Mec. Frankenfield served with the Occupation Army in Germany. He commented in a letter home that the dialect of German spoken in the area he was stationed was very similar to the German spoken in Pennsylvania and that it was easy for him to communicate with the locals. Frank never spoke ill of the German soldiers, nor civilian population and he never mentioned that he suffered any discrimination due to his German ancestry. This post card was sent home to show his family where he was staying, at a wood products factory in Wittlich, Germany.