Born: unknown
Died:
Campaigns Served: Namur (with 2/24), Saipan, Tinian
Highest Rank Attained: Major
Decorations:
Robert Fricke enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1937. After a few months service with Utility Squadron 6, Fricke was selected for officer training, and enrolled in Company E of the Eastern Platoon Leaders' Class in session at Quantico, Virginia. PFC Fricke became Second Lieutenant Fricke in 1939, and was assigned to the Naval Air Station in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
In 1943, Fricke - now a major - was assigned to the Second Battalion, 24th Marines. He served with them during the battle of Namur. That battle claimed the life of the First Battalion's leader, Lieutenant Colonel Aquilla Dyess, and executive officer Maynard Schultz was placed in command. Fricke was assigned to First Battalion as a replacement executive officer on February 27, 1944.
Fricke trained with his new battalion, and made the landing on Saipan. On June 16, 1944, Lieutenant Colonel Schultz was killed by mortar shrapnel while attending a battalion commander's briefing, leaving Fricke in command of the battalion. He held the position for two days, ceding leadership to Lieutenant Colonel Otto Lessing on June 18. Fricke returned to his position as executive officer, and served through the rest of the Marianas campaign in that capacity.
Major Fricke was transferred out of the battalion in the fall of 1944.
NOTE: There is some confusion concerning the transition of First Battalion's command on Saipan. The Battalion muster roll (with many footnotes and corrections) claims that Otto Lessing assumed command on June 28 and that Fricke was in command until that time; the USMC Historical Monograph states that Lessing arrived on June 18; and Captain Frederic Stott's memoir "Saipan Under Fire" makes no mention of Fricke, instead claiming that Captain Gene Mundy (Battalion Operations Officer) took charge until Lessing's arrival. The website is based around the USMC Monograph version.