Corp. Fred Seifert

WWI, 35th Div., 139th Inf. Company M - Killed in Action Sept 26, 1918 Meuse-Argonne Offensive

Aunt Irene (Fred's youngest sister) found this picture and colored it with her crayons to make it look pretty.

        Old Victrola  recordings of 1917 song popular at the time Fred enlisted.   

When I found these pictures that Saturday morning in the Winter of 1964, I actually  I had no idea that the young soldier in the those pictures was my Grand-Uncle or that any of the pictures in the shoebox belonged to the family.  I thought they were a collection from people who lived in the old Victorian over the years and were just kept in the attic.  I know it sounds strange, but this young soldier's eyes captivated me. 

I was almost 16  when I found his pictures.  My generation's participation in Vietnam had just escalated  August 2, 1964 when North Vietnam launched an attack against the C. Turner Joy and the U.S.S. Maddox, two American ships on call in the Gulf of Tonkin.  I had just begun to date an airman stationed at Forbes Air Force Base. So you see how I felt a kinship to this Uncle    who was less than 3 years older than me in the pictures. 

 These pictures, taken outside the family home and in the yard at 1311 Boyd St., would be the last taken before he left St. Joseph and his family forever.           

  Seifert Siblings: Louise, Irene, Fred, Marie   I believe my Grandma (Louise) told me that this was their cousin, Lucille Koss, daughter of his Aunt Louise & Uncle Otto.    I'm not sure who is in this with Fred - family ?   

Frederick Henry Seifert 's military record, according to report I received from Headquarters Missouri National Guard March 13, 1985.

  Uncle Fred mustered in August 5th 1917 and then sent with other local boys to join the 35th Division that was organized at Camp Doniphan August 25, 1917.  

 He sent the following pictures home of his training at Camp Doniphan , Oklahoma (the writing on the back of this picture says men running to mess) (Corp Fred Seifert sitting on bayonet practice bag,  Private Kent Potter underneath, Private Carle Wineland in center, Corp John Grace on bag to the right over Private Pork Hammer.    Fred has star over his head       Standing:  Charles Buffington, Pork Hammer,  Harry Patterson,  Carl Wineland  John Grace  Sitting:   John McClellen, Fred Seifert, Kent Potter       Fred Seifert is 3rd from the right in both pictures. 

According to the other sites,  the 35th was sent to New York and New Jersey military camps until shipping out to Europe.  The last line of the report sent to me says:

When I asked Grandma where he was killed, she said, "Honey I don't know.  I just remember it was a battle with an A in it."  She said it was somewhere in France and that the family could not afford to bring his body back for burial.  The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, described as the first great American battle of WWI was the battle to which she referred. 

She said that a friend who was with him told the family that he had asked his superiors to move out when a bomb exploded.  The friend gave them the three pictures that were taken from Fred's pocket after his death and the flag that draped his casket when he was buried in the field that is now the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial.

The underlying colored paper is so you can see where the shrapnel penetrated.  Fred with his mother and father Hank  Fred with his grosmutter (Grandmother) & father   Sister Louise (our Grandmother) and mother, Anna.  Fred was one of the  26,277 battle deaths according to the 1926 Report of the Secretary of War.

  In the late 1990s, the American Battle Monuments Commission, sent exact location and picture of his grave and placed a flag by the cross for the family, for which I was very grateful.

August 3, 1933, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #1668  named their post in his honor.       The post always remembered the family and sent condolences - I believe this one was for the death of one of the grandchildren.  I know when Grandma, Fred's sister, was in a auto accident and in the hospital, the post paid for some service that she needed. That was in the 1970s.

For years the post was located on 1701 St. Joseph Ave., in St. Joseph, MO.       When I was living in St. Joseph, I dropped in to see if the post had any information.  No one there knew anything about him or why the post was named for him.  I was told that there was one veteran still living whom I might contact to tell me something I might learn.  As I remember, he was a retired attorney and I believe he was Mr. Potter.  I did call and the old gentleman was so kind to help me.  He said that he believed the reason was that Fred was well liked and that he was the first St. Joseph boy to lose his life in the war.

 The family had given to the post the big picture that hung in the main room because they were so proud to have him honored,  So much time had passed that his name was even mis-pronounced in the English fashion with a strong e rather than the German pronunciation of a strong i.   So I wrote up a report of the information that I had gathered to that point, and gave a talk about his history at one of their meetings. 

My Uncle, Fred's nephew Herman Kerber Jr. joined the post and served as Commander.  My mother, Helen joined the Women's Auxiliary , nick-named The Cooties.  Both were active members for many years.   I understood that the post had disbanded and moved. Not only was I sorry to hear that but I thought Uncle Fred's picture might be gone from the family forever lost.  Last night, in a whim, I decided to type in the post on the internet to see if maybe there was an article or something that might pop up and was so happy to see that the post is still active.  http://www.vfwwebcom.org/mo/post1668 

Alan Kerber, one of Fred's Grand-nephews who served our nation and is now keeper of Fred's flag and artifacts in the knowledge that his daughter Tiffani will care for them and pass them on to her children and so forth.  When Alan retired from the Navy, he chose to have his flag flown   over Uncle Fred's grave at Meuse-Argonne Cemetery. 

 By publishing these pages detailing Frederick Henry Seifert's short life, I have made sure that he will never be forgotten and his memory honored.  I've spent so many years talking about him with family members, researching events and places he knew and we share the same religious experiences.  I know Uncle Fred as well as I know any of my family members  so that when I close my eyes and awake to the next world, I will greet him as I would any now living.  Uncle Fred, I can now say good-bye for now.