Major General Gustav Henry Franke

September 7, 1888 Manning - March 19, 1953 Washington, District of Columbia
Burial United States Military Academy Post Cemetery, West Point, New York
Section VIII Lot 196

Son of Gustav Henry Franke (May 7, 1852 - December 24, 1908) and Dorothea Pevestorf (November 10, 1850 - February 20, 1911)
Siblings: Alma Freelove, Amanda Schroeder, Helen Shepherd, Dorothy Franke

Wife: Mildred D. (McKee) Franke May 28, 1892 - June 22, 1976 South Carolina
Burial United States Military Academy Post Cemetery, West Point, New York

President Roosevelt sent his name to the senate in a list of 28 other army officers to be advanced temporarily to major general or brigadier general. Chennault has been on the air force retired list, with the permanent rank of captain. Whether the volunteer airmen he helped recruit in this country and has long commanded on the Chinese border also will be called into American Army service was not immediately disclosed at the war department. Chennault's home is Waterproof, Louisiana.
Those nominated to be Major Generals included Brigadier General Lewis B. Hershey, director of selective service. He is 48, and his home is Angola, Indiana.
Others promoted included Brigadier General Mark W. Clark, Indianapolis, Indiana, 45-year-old Chief of Staff of the Army ground forces, and three Brigadier Generals who recently were put in command of newly-organized infantry divisions.
The division commanders were Brigadier General Emil F. Reinhardt, Detroit, Michigan, commander of the Sixty-seventh Infantry Division; Ira T. Wyche, a native of Ocracoke. North Carolina, Seventy-ninth Infantry Division, and Gustav H. Franke, a native of Manning.Iowa, commander of the Eighty-first Infantry Division.
Shreveport Journal, Shreveport, Louisiana April 16, 1942

Manning Monitor
An official paper, The Stars and Stripes, edited somewhere in France, was sent last week by one of our Manning soldier boys, formerly Captain Gustav Franke, but now Colonel Franke.
The news of the rapid promotion of this young man will be pleasing news to his many friends here. Less than 25 years ago he was selling papers on the streets of Manning. Anyone with grit and energy can advance in America, the limit only being the inherent resources of the man himself.
Carroll Times Herald November 7, 1918

Gustav H. Franke
George W. Cullum, No. 4948, March 19, 1953
West Point obituary
Died at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC
On March 24, 1953, Major General Gustav H. Franke was laid to rest at West Point, that rock-bound highland home he loved so well.

Gus Franke entered West Point with the Class of 1911 and graduated 13th in that class. His military career, a highly successful one, was brought to a sudden close in 1942. Wearing the stars of a Major General, Franke was about to embark for combat at the head of the 81st Infantry Division when a heart attack felled him and forced his retirement from active military service. Undaunted he slowly fought his way back to good health, built a beautiful home on the shores of the Atlantic in Mrytle Beach, South Carolina, and became a tireless worker and leader in the affairs of that community. Then that other great killer, cancer, ended the life of this man who had marked himself as a leader in civilian as well as in military life.

Dynamic is a word that well befits Gus Franke. Always active, he played polo until past middle age and was a top-notch football official of the South Eastern Conference at the age of forty-eight. The maintenance of a high state of physical fitness was to him a duty he owed his country. The heart attack that forced his retirement followed a strenuous trip over the obstacle course at the head of elements of his division.

He was a man of strong convictions who could never compromise where principle was involved. A proposition was either white or black to him; there were no grays in his life. He loved a battle and pitched into the closest friend when he believed that friend to be in the wrong.

After his retirement, his interest in national affairs seemed to grow steadily, and he made use of his ability as a writer to express his views on various questions. His letters, which appeared frequently in the Charlotte Observer, give a vivid picture of a man who believed in hitting the line with everything he had.

Rugged people often have the faculty of making enemies. Gus Franke had a remarkable capacity for making friends that characterized his whole life. The Howitzer of 1911 said of him: "If all the exponents of good had the magnetism for his fellows that he has, there would be much less bad in the world". Without preliminary nominations, the Class of 1911 elected its first president in 1916. When the last votes had arrived from the Philippines Franke had received so great a majority as to make his election practically unanimous. He remained Class President until 1951, when on the occasion of our fortieth reunion at West Point he asked to be relieved of his duties.

The writer of this article was appointed to the faculty of Alabama Polytechnic Institute in 1948. General Franke had served there as Professor of Military Science and Tactics some 15 years before. I expected to find that older members of the Faculty would recall Franke favorably. Gradually I was to realize that this man in a period of four or five years had made his stamp not only on the college but on the town of Auburn as well. Never have I known people in so many walks of life speak with such admiration and affection of a man who had been so long gone from their midst. The solicitude of the people of Auburn for General Franke during his last illness was a tribute to a man who loved his neighbor.

But to have known this man at his finest, one must have seen him in his home. Gus Franke married Mildred (Mike) McKee of Washington, D.C. in the spring of 1912. Gus acted wisely, for in the remaining forty-one years of his life he found that this sweetheart of his youth never failed to be an inspirational helper, a wise counselor, a congenial companion and a devoted wife. The marriage was blessed by two daughters and a son, all of whom married early in life. Gus was proud of his lovely girls and of his son Gus Jr., Major of Field Artillery, who was twice decorated for bravery on the field of battle in the early days of the Korean War. He loved them and the nine grandchildren they brought him with a deep devotion, and the happiest days of his later years were those on which he gathered as many as possible of them around him in his home. One could not attend one of these reunions without feeling that a God-fearing man was receiving the crowning reward of a Christian father.

General Franke was a battle-tested veteran of World War I. He was a man whose professional competence was of the highest order. He was a born leader of men. There seems little doubt that, but for an unkind fate, his name would now be listed among the great military leaders of World War II. Yet he never complained of that fate, but kept on living his old unselfish life, preoccupied always with thoughts of his family and friends. Particularly was this true during the last year of his life, when he knew of the terrible malady with which he was afflicted. Even when informed that he had but a few days to live his thoughts were still of his fellow men. "No flowers," he requested his friends, "please send the money you would spend on them to the Damon Runyan Cancer Fund."

Truly a great man has gone to his Creator.
J.B. Crawford

Gustav Franke
December 31, 1908
Manning Monitor
GUSTAV FRANKE DEAD
Well Known and Popular Citizen is Laid to His Rest.
Last Thursday morning, December 24, 1908, the citizens of this little town and surrounding country were somewhat surprised to learn that Gustav Franke had passed away. While it was generally known that he was a very sick man and that there was some doubt of his recovery, still nobody thought of his time being so close at hand.

He commenced to suffer from a throat trouble in the early part of October and went to Rochester, Minnesota, on the 19th of October to consult Mayo Bros. there, who first pronounced it goiter, but on further examination found his trouble to be cancemonia of the throat. Mrs. Franke went immediately as soon as she found out he was so bad, and remained with him until he was brought home December 12. Everything, both there and here, was done for him that human power could do. His son, Gustav, who went to West Point Academy nearly two years ago, was notified and rushed at once to his father's bedside and remained constantly with him until the end.

Thus passeth away a good man; a man much loved and respected.

Gustav Franke was born near Sheboygan, Wisconsin, May 5th, 1852. He came to Chicago when only a boy and began to learn the tailor trade when eleven years of age. He was left an orphan at the age of thirteen, by the death of his father, his mother dying when he was three years old, and from that time on Mr. Franke looked out for himself. He learned his trade to perfection, so that he was one of the best tailors in the state of Iowa. He was married while in Chicago to Miss Dorothy Pevestorf, August 18, 1875, remaining there until the year 1884, when they moved to Manning, where they have resided ever since, and have been one of our best and most highly respected families. Most of their children have been born here and have grown up to young womanhood, and Gustav, their only son, to manhood, all loved and admired by everyone, so that when he came to have to face death he felt that his work had not been in vain. But now he is gone and has left his task for his good wife to finish.

Gustav Franke was a good husband, a kind and indulgent father; to his friends the soul of fellowship, but, the greatest of all, he was a man, and as a man it is that those who knew him best most love to contemplate him. He believed that the man who scatters flowers in the pathway of his fellowmen, who lets into the dark places of life sunshine of human sympathy and kindness, is following the footsteps of his Master. He was a man who acted from no motive but the best, and whose course never wavered. He was a character to remember with affection and to mourn with deepest sorrow. Death seized him in the midst of vivid interests of life. It seized him from a happy and devoted family, and consolation can be found only in trying to remember, not the loss, but the possession.

His moments on earth were full of activity and usefulness, and it is ended. We can only bow our heads and think of the widow and children. We can only bow our heads and wait; we must go on with the task, we human beings. We know not who falls next. But it takes more courage when a friend has fallen, a friend who was loved and needed and admired.

His funeral was held last Saturday at the Presbyterian Church, conducted by Rev. Heizer, assisted by Rev. Faust, of the German Lutheran church, of Westside. The church was packed to suffocation, many not being able to gain admittance. The floral tributes were the most beautiful ever seen at a funeral in this place.

Those who are left to mourn his loss are his devoted wife, six daughters and one son. The children are Mrs. Alma Freelove, Mrs. Alva Jensen and Misses Amanda, Hellen, Dorothea, Lulu and one son, Gustav. He was a member of the A.O.U.W., also of the Modern Woodmen of America. Members of the two orders accompanied the remains to the cemetery, where the chaplains read from the burial ritual and Rev. Heizer led in prayer. There was a large attendance from our midst and many from out of town.

We extend to the lonely wife and children our deepest sympathy.

The relatives from out of town were: Mr. and Mrs. A.L. Freelove, of Kenebeck, S.D.; Mrs. J.W. Jensen, Marathon, Iowa; Mrs. Rev. A. Schroedel, St Paul, Minnesota, a sister of the deceased; Mr. and Mrs. Fred Hortsman; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hackmeister, and Chris, Fred and Henry Pevestorf, brothers and sisters of Mrs. Franke.

CARD OF THANKS.
To the various organizations, many friends and neighbors, we wish to extend our sincere thanks and heartfelt appreciation for so kindly assisting in the care of husband and father and for the wide sympathy so sweetly expressed through the beautiful flowers, loving messages and thoughtful service, in our sorrow.
Mrs. G. FRANKE AND CHILDREN.

December 31, 1908
A.O.U.W. Resolutions.
Whereas, The Master of Death passed our sentinel and invaded our chapter and severed a link from our golden chain, summoning from time to eternity Brother Gustav Franke,
Resolved, That we acknowledge the wisdom and goodness of our Supreme Grand Master and bow in humble submission; that as a token of our sincere friendship and sympathy in the dark hour of this great affliction, and as a pledge of our fidelity to the memory of our brother and his fatherless children we extend the fraternal right hand of fellowship, and with it the assurance that the great light given of God to man will guide him safely to that spiritual building eternal in the heavens there to dwell in peaceful happiness forever and ever.
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be spread upon the minutes of our chapter and that copies be sent the families of our worthy brother.
B.L. JOHNSON, J.F. DETHLEFS, PAUL MOERKE, Committee

Gustav Franke is buried in the Manning City Cemetery.
Section C Row #41 north -south.