Charles Frehse photo album

Photograph

Saugatuck Douglas Historical Society

Cut out image of Charles Frehse in his Marines uniform and gold star

Charles Freshe in France, With His Mother's Gold Star

Name/Title

Charles Frehse photo album

Entry/Object ID

2023.09.13

Description

Black cover photo album with many photos of Charles Frehse, Saugatuck's first WWI fatality plus photos his contemporaries, friends and fellow Saugatuck baseball team players.

Photograph Details

Type of Photograph

Print, photograph

Subject Person or Organization

Frehse, Russell Raymond 1892-1976, Morris, Lillian (Sterzing) Frehse 1872-1964, Morris, Harry A. 1866-1946, Frehse, Charles John 1893-1918, Snay, Joseph Febian 1893-1937, Dynamite the Donkey(s), Wiley, Lucy 1897-1916, Morris, Aldean (Jarvis) 1927-2007, Sewers, Florence B. 1893-1984, Sewers, Mary E. (Haberer) 1896-1953, Reed, Natalie "Billie" or "Bill", Sewers, Winifred "Winnie'" Ruth 1897-1917, Brackenridge, Evelyn, Pfaff, Catherine, Barr, Jeanette (Walker) 1902-1979, Myers, Jay D. 1856-1928, Sheridan, Joseph U. 1906-1983, Phelps, Rutherford Ross 1893-1958, Sailor, Lyman Balcom 1895-1957, Van Leeuwen, Earl Robert 1893-1969, Rogers, Van, Koning, Hazen, Bird Bath House, Oval Beach 1936-present, Mount Baldhead Dune/Park, 326 Butler/Grins/Martha Shop/Dr. Walker's office/Miller Robinson/Turell Building, 660 Lake/Cozy Cottage/Morris-Freshe

Context

Remembering Saugatuck's First Casualty in WWI On June 18, 1918, Mrs. Harry Morris of 660 Lake Street, Saugatuck, received an official telegram from the War Department, that her son Charles had been killed in action on the battlefields of France. He was the first Saugatuck casualty of the "war to end all wars". Private Charles J. Frehse was born in Chicago on Oct. 13, 1893. After his widowed mother married Saugatuck resident Harry Morris in 1907, he and his brother Russell came to Saugatuck to live. He attended Saugatuck schools for 5 years, was a member with his family of the Saugatuck Congregational Church, and played on the Local YMCA Baseball team. Charles enlisted on April 8, 1917, two days after Congress declared war on Germany. After 6 or 7 weeks of training at Port Royal, SC, he left for France as a member of the 45th Co, 5th Regt, US Marine Corps. The Frehse family has pictures which show Charles with his fellow marines at St. Nazaire, France (a major unloading point for troops) on Nov. 10 and 14th, 1917. On June 18, 1918, his name was announced by the War Department as one of 45 servicemen killed in action in the fighting northwest of Chateau-Thierry at Belleau Wood. Charles died Jun. 6, 1918, and is buried in the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, France. The Commercial Record wrote at the time: "Thus is a gold star added to our service flag, and if the dead can know, it is certain that Charlie Frehse is proud that his star commemorates his supreme sacrifice."

Collection

Military, wars and veterans, Sports: baseball

Cataloged By

Winthers, Sally

Acquisition

Accession

2023.09

Source or Donor

Pindras, Holly

Acquisition Method

Donation, unconditional

Dimensions

Height

5-1/2 in

Width

8-1/2 in

Location

Box

185 Morris-Frehse Family

Create Date

July 11, 2023

Update Date

April 24, 2025