Frutiger, Theodore Raymond

Born February 21, 1894, in Morris, Pennsylvania. Son of John and Linnie Leonard Frutiger. Educated Morris High School, Mansfield State Normal School, and Oberlin College, Class of 1919. Assistant Secretary, West Side Y. M. C. A., New York, two years. Joined American Field Service, June 2, 1917; attached Section Twelve until August 20, 1917. Returned to America, December, 1917. Enlisted U. S. Tank Corps, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. Transferred Camp Colt, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 302d Heavy Tank Battalion, as Sergeant. Died there of acute gastritis, April 19, 1918. Buried Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Morris, Pennsylvania.

"TIOGA COUNTY lost a promising young man and patriot in the death of Theodore Raymond Frutiger, at an officers' training camp at Gettysburg," lamented the Philadelphia North American in an article of commemoration. "His is the story of a young life of great promise which was sacrificed on the altar of freedom." His story is also one of persistency and determination to get to the front, despite defective eyesight, and to help the cause which America held so dear.

At the time Frutiger enlisted he was a student at Oberlin College, and, like so many other college students, he saw in the Field Service an immediate means of helping the Allies in their great struggle. In June, 1917, he sailed for France to drive an ambulance. About the first of September this service was taken over by the United States Government, and those who were in it were given the option of leaving or signing up for the duration of the war. Young Frutiger, desiring to get into more active service, left the ambulance work and sought entrance into the aviation service, but he was rejected because of very bad eyesight.

Owing to the death of his father, he returned to this country in December, and in January he, with several other returned ambulance drivers, attempted to enter an officers' training camp. He was again rejected because of poor eyesight. He journeyed to Washington, D. C., and there once more he was told that they could not admit him. However he was not discouraged and informed the authorities that he would keep coming until he was accepted.

Finally they wrote him, after his return home, stating that they had waived his defects of vision and that he should report at once to Fort Oglethorpe. After remaining there for a time a Tank Corps was organized, and Frutiger being anxious to get back to France, enlisted in the 302d Heavy Tank Battalion and was transferred to Camp Colt, Gettysburg. His mother received a letter from him on April 15th, saying that he expected to sail again for France in a few days. Then he was taken seriously ill, and a day later, before his relatives could be notified, he died of acute gastritis.

Obviously it was no mere adventuring which stirred private Frutiger so deeply, and an earnestness such as his could not fail to have left its effect upon those with whom he came in contact. The strength of his determination to serve was an inspiration to others who were privileged to execute what he willed so intensely. He will be remembered by those who knew him as a man of fine character, who made friends readily wherever he went, and whose death was widely mourned.

• Tribute from Memorial Volume of the American Field Service, 1921