Frederick W. Scheumann was born on the twenty-sixth of October in 1920. Frederick lived with his parents, Martin Heinrich Scheumann and Anna Henriette Scheumann, and his six siblings, Melvin, Norvin, Minnie, Della, Viola, and Vernon, in Marion Township, Allen County, Indiana. As a child, he was educated at St. John's Lutheran School. He later attended Hoagland High School, graduating in 1939. In high school, Frederick, also known as "Fritz", was part of many extracurricular activities. "Fritz" played basketball for the Hoagland Wildcats his junior and senior years, softball his sophomore, junior, and senior years, glee club, "Showboat Minstrel", and art club junior year, and booster club senior year. Although Scheumann was part of many groups as a upperclassman, he was described as being shy, as noted in his senior yearbook. "He surely is a 'Schi-man'. Just win him if you can! And as a star of Hoagland High, just watch him shine. My, oh, my!" Along with school and its activities, he also had a job before he was drafted. Frederick was employed by Eckrich, a meat processing and packaging company. Frederick enlisted on the twelfth of September in 1942 in Toledo, Ohio. He was drafted into the U.S. Army on the twenty-sixth of September, 1942. He attended basic training at Camp Clairborne in Louisiana. In April of 1943, he went overseas where he saw active service in North Africa. In February 1944, he was transferred to the Co. C. 338th Engineer General Service Regiment in Italy. Their assignment was to restore the port of Leghorn, on the western coast of Italy, because it was destroyed by the Germans and it was a major supply base. Frederick was part of the bridge building. Although this group was not very experienced, no other units were available. The 338th Engineers played a demanding role as they supported the other units and repaired much needed bases. Sergeant Frederick Scheumann, the man who wore service #35340011, was killed in action on the eleventh of June in 1944, just about a month before the Fifth U.S. Army captured Leghorn on the nineteenth of July. Although Scheumann has a marker at Saint John Lutheran Cemetery in Decatur, he is not actually buried there. He, in fact the only Scheumann in the entire cemetery, is actually buried in the 77 acre Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy, Plot J Row 15 Grave 56. The only children left in the Scheumann family after his death were Norvin, a Technical Sergeant stationed at Pearl Harbor, and Melvin and Vernon. For his service, Frederick W. Scheumann received the American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and the Purple Heart. In addition, Sgt. Scheumann earned the Combat Infantryman Badge for combat in North Africa and Italy. Information researched and collected by Carrie Scott, 2016.
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Ship’s Log Hoagland High School 1939 Yearbook