Newspaper clipping: Frank FitzSimons awarded Navy Cross for Argonne heroism

Scanned page 555 of Book 1 — Scan of original. Open full size →

Pencil annotations:

Lockwood FitzS — / WORLD WAR I

Spartanburg S.C. Herald of Dec 4-19

Newspaper clipping:

Full Associated Press Dispatches

PRICE 5 CENTS

SPARTANBURG MAN GIVEN NAVY CROSS

~~George~~ Frank Fitzsimmons Honored For Heroism in the Battle of the Argonne.

Secretary of the Navy Daniels on yesterday announced that the following South Carolinians had been awarded the navy cross for extraordinary heroism or distinguished service in the late war:

Commandant George C. Logan, Charleston; Capt. Robert W. McNeely, Edgefield; Lieut. William A. Ott, Fort Mill; Lieut. Commander Oliver M. Read, Jr., Tennessee; Ensign Clifford J. Sangiove, Charleston; Commander Edgar Thompson (medical corps), Charleston; First Lieut. Jan P. Adman (marine corps), North Augusta; First Lieut. Julius C. Cogswell (marine corps), Charleston; First Lieut. Edward B. Hope (marine corps), Walterboro; Capt. Gaines Moseley (marine corps), Aiken, S. C.; First Lieut. George H. Yarborough (marine corps), Mullins; George B. Cargill, apprentice seaman, Charleston; F. L. Fitzsimmons, Spartanburg.

F. L. Fitzsimmons, who has been honored by the navy department, is a son of G. S. Fitzsimmons of this city and lives at 545 South Church street. In 1917 he was a junior at Wofford college and in May of that year enlisted in the medical corps of the navy. The following August he transferred to the 6th regiment of marine corps and with that unit went to France in the month of October. When the marines made the now famous attack at Chateau Thierry, Mr. Fitzsimmons was with the Sixth and was in every engagement in which that regiment took part in the subsequent battles of Soissons, St. Michiel, Champagne and the Meuse-Argonne.

After the armistice he moved up with the regiment to Neuwied, Germany, where he was stationed until the regiment was ordered home.

When asked about the matter yesterday Mr. Fitzsimmons said he had heard of nothing of the honor conferred on him. He said that he was cited after the Argonne fight but thought that was the end of it. Indeed he preferred that no mention of the action of the secretary of the navy, so far as he was concerned, be made. He said that in his return to America the main thing with him was to complete his education and he is now in his senior year at Wofford.

Friends of the young man in this city will be glad to learn of the award of the navy cross to him.

AI Notes

A narrow column of yellowed newsprint pasted vertically, headed ‘SPARTANBURG MAN GIVEN NAVY CROSS’ with subhead ‘Frank Fitzsimmons Honored For Heroism in the Battle of the Argonne.’ Above the headline a banner reads ‘Full Associated Press Dispatches / PRICE 5 CENTS.’ At the top in pencil: ‘Lockwood FitzS / WORLD WAR I.’ At the right margin in pencil: ‘Spartanburg S.C. Herald of Dec 4-19.’ The name ‘George’ has been crossed out in pencil and replaced by ‘Frank.’

Frank Lockwood FitzSimons (1898–1981), the future Hendersonville banker and WHKP radio storyteller (see pp. 554, 556, 559–562, 572–573), served with the 6th Marine Regiment through every major American engagement of the war’s last year — Belleau Wood / Château-Thierry (June 1918), Soissons, St. Mihiel, and the Meuse–Argonne offensive (26 Sept–11 Nov 1918), the war’s climactic Allied push. Josephus Daniels, the Secretary of the Navy named in the article, served under Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1921.