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One Marines Story Domincan Republic 1916


ludwigh1980
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Hello all from Western Colorado, this is my first posting on the forum. We all have come across some item, relic, piece of memorabilia that blew our socks off. This has happened to me many times but one that ranks about the top is the finding of one M1912 Marine Corporals Tunic one cold December morning. In the city I live there is a local auction that occurs every Saturday. Starts at 9 AM sharp and wraps up about 2 pm. Usually small with mostly second hand junk with a few antiques thrown in. Accational a piece of militaria will come through and usually nothing worth aquiring. Just before Christmas this year I was walking the rows of used clothing boxes, stuffed animal and cheap furniture and came across a pile of uniforms. I thougth they wear all ww2 and did not look to close at them. Early 20th and 19th century U.S. Army uniforms are my thing so what might have been obvious to a seasoned U.S. Marine Corp Uniform collector was lost to me. I typically buy everything Military that I come across if resonable. What I don't keep I trade or resale. Well the auctioneer eventually made his way to the uniform and the bid got down to $2.00 per uniform. I jumped in and was the only bidder. That left me with a pile of ww2, marine corp uniforms for just under $10.00. As I gathered them up I noticed one was much older and had the old style pre ww1 rank stripes. Somewhat excited on finding a potentially moderately valuble uniform for resale I headed to my car. Once home I unbuttoned it and like every uniform collector everywhere carefully examined first for a date and then a name. Finding the usual Marine depot marking faded to the point that the date was unreadable, I went to the other sleeve. In the other one, I found neatly stenciled, in typical fashion, the name GEORGE FRAZEE. A quick google search yielded nothing. In trying to decide if I should throw it up on the internet auction site we all know, a thought came to me. Maybe I should check the name out on Ancestry.com. Not having a membership I signed up, got on and entered in the name. What a surprise!

 

GEORGE FRAZEE born in a very small mountain town some 250 mile from me by the odd name of Cotopaxi, in Fremont County, Colorado in 1882. Noted in the 1900 census, he was living in a smaller town with occupation listed as Miner. The area is part of the Hardscrable Gold and Silver Mining District. (Ironically My Great Grandfather ran cattle to the local miners of this district in the 1880's and lived about 20 miles away in 1882) Evidently mining didn't work out for George so in 1907 he found him self in Canon City (Colorado's Prison town then and still today) enlisting in the Army. He served in the 19th Infantry Regiment and served until June 1913. He was discharged and apparantly wanted a change of pace and enlisted in the Marine Corp the following year. He would be assigned to the 4th Regiment in San Diego. In 1915 he would be aboard the U.S.S. Colorado and the U.S.S. Baffaloe in Meixican Waters. In March 1916 he was promoted to Corporal in the 26th Company 4th Marine Regiment. He was permitted to wear two service stripes for both his Army and Marine service. He would accompany the Regiment to the Dominican Republic the same year. Sadly in July after being engaged with his fellow marines of the 4th in jungle warefare against Rebels, he would be killed in action in the battle of Guayacanas. His enlistment document mention his height at over 6th feet so he must have stuck out a little more than his fellow marines. He died of a gun shot to the head. Interestingly enought Marines Corporal Joseph Glowen and 1st Sargeant Roswel Winans would win the Congressional Medal Of Honor during the engagement.

Corporal Frazzee would be the only Marine lost during the battle. He was originally buried in place however his remains were recovered and re-enterred at Arlington National Cemetery. The official report in the U.S. Marine Muster Roll mentioned his effects being shipped home. I am unsure if his M1912 coat accompanied him on the ship to the Dominican Republic or remained in San Diego. Non the less it is his dress uniform and since he was probably buried in his cotton summer field uniform in the Dominican Uniform this is quite possibly one of the only momentoes of his service and sacrifice. It must have found its way back home to his family where someone preserved it for nearly 100 years only to be thrown in a pile with other discarded uniforms at a junk auction. It is a somber reminder of not only a Colorado Son's sacrifice but also to the obscure and largely forgotten BANANA WARS.

 

It is is displayed prominantly in my den of Colorado Military History. What a find!

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kyhistorian01

incredible uniform!!! I am glad you were able to save it with the history. I hope you have luck someday in finding a photo of him. You might want to write to the National Archive, or the Marine Corp History museum and see if there is a photo of the unit when he was assigned to it. If so you might be able to copy it to put a face with the history. Take care.

 

Robert

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teufelhunde.ret

Hello and welcome aboard. Quite the interesting story on the find and his time in the Corps. All the best in finding more info on him - St Louis may even have a picture of him in his file...

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Kurt Barickman

Now that is what makes this hobby worthwhile! Great buy and you can't beat the price or the story. Thanks for posting this interesting piece of early USMC history.

 

Kurt Barickman

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Thank you for sharing both the interesting story and the photos of the corporal’s blouse. The firefight he died in produced the first two Medal of Honors awarded Fourth Marines, and is best remembered for this reason. Best wishes, Jim

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Great uniform, great research, and great write-up

 

Welcome to the forum. I can see already that you will definately have some great stuff to contribute

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Absolutely tremendous and historic find, great job on the verification and your ability to bring this Marine's story to the surface after nearly a century.

Semper Fi,

Kevin

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Terrific find. Congratulations! Here is a picture of three Marines in Columbus Palace, in Santo Domingo. Notice the tall fellow. Who knows...?

 

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First I would like to welcome you to the Forum.

 

This is an incredible uniform, and since I am not knowledgable about USMC uniforms maybe someone can assist me. Several months ago I posted a uniform that is very similar to this, and it turned out to belong to a Marine who was a deserter. Long story short, the uniform I have has very distinct stitching marks/fading around the sleeve cuffs. The uniform pictured in this post has two stripes on the cuff of each sleeve.

 

My question is this: What are these stripes for? I again apologize for my ignorance on this matter, but I would like to find out as much as I can about the deserter uniform that I have..

 

Thanks

 

Leigh...

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Thanks you all for your respounse. I now am venturing to get his service record. Should be quite interesting. I am going to try to assemble a medal group for him for display. I don't believe he would have had many during his time on earth. He is certainly entitled to a few.

I thought some of you would appreciate. I have always had a soft spot for our colonial soldiers and still think they are under appreciated.

WW2 is hot now thanks to Hollywood. I guess I alway felt something for Volunteers being one myself.

 

Terry INF

 

AIRBORNE Hit IT!

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Just a remarkable find, and you should be commended on your research efforts as well. Thanks for sharing this Marine's story with the rest of us, you should be very proud to have this unique reminder of history in your collection!

 

Semper,

 

Ski

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