Frank O’Brien was born in 1892 in Fargo. At 18, he began working at the Fargo Mercantile Company, a wholesale grocer. Like many young men of his time, Frank was drafted after the United States declared war on Germany in 1917. He was among the first draftees from Fargo and was inducted in September 1917. After arriving at Camp Dodge, Iowa, Frank wrote a letter to his former colleagues at the Fargo Mercantile Company, describing his training as a member of an infantry supply company.
Frank’s letter described the arduous daily routine and highlighted the clean dining room. He also noted that he had to be clean shaven every day and got a day off from drilling after getting many vaccinations and inoculations. Frank also shared that everyone was jealous of his fellow Fargoan, Wong Dew, who was appointed cook for the regiment’s colonel and twelve officers. He had three assistants in the kitchen. The other cooks got four assistants, but had to serve 250 men each. Wong had worked at the Chicago Café in Fargo, and during the soldier’s send-off from Fargo, Wong had received an ovation from the crowd at the Northern Pacific passenger station.
In November 1917, Frank was transferred to Camp Pike in Arkansas to train with a machine gun corps. His father was able to visit him there in March 1918. Frank finally left for France on June 17, marched in a July 4th celebration in England, and reached France on July 13. Tragically, sixteen days later, on July 30, he was killed during the Aisne-Marne offensive. His body was returned to the United States and buried at Arlington National Cemetery in 1921.
This was not the only loss Frank’s family would suffer due to World War I. Frank’s sister Kathleen married Henry Boisvert in October 1917. They had a daughter in August 1918. Soon after the birth, Henry was drafted, and a month later he died of the Spanish Flu at Camp
Hancock in Alabama, just a few weeks before his first wedding anniversary.
Dakota Datebook by Trista Raezer-Stursa
Sources:
- Adjutant-General’s Office. Roster of the Men And Women Who Served In the Army Or Naval Service (including the Marine Corps) of the United States Or Its Allies From the State of North Dakota In the World War, 1917-1918. Bismarck: The Bismarck Tribune Company, 1931.
- Author Unknown. “Cheers Hush as Cass Sons Enter Service,” The Fargo Forum, September 24, 1917, pg. 2.
- Author Unknown. “Fargo Man, Who Vowed to Exact Payment of the Hun, Dies in Action,” The Fargo Forum, September 20, 1918, pg. 1.
- Author Unknown. “Frank O’Brien in Supply Company,” The Fargo Forum, October 4, 1917, pg. 10.
- Author Unknown. “Henry N. Boisvert,” The Fargo Forum, October 7, 1918, pg. 2.
- Author Unknown. “O’Brien in Machine Gun Work,” The Fargo Forum, March 13, 1918, pg. 2.
