This Military Service Page was created/owned by
MAJ Mark E Cooper
to remember
Davis, Fred E., Sr., SGM.
If you knew or served with this Soldier and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Last Address Fayetteville, NC
Date of Passing Sep 21, 1995
Location of Interment Cumberland Memorial Gardens - Fayetteville, North Carolina
RANGER HALL OF FAME
1994
Sergeant Major Davis distinguished himself throughout his 33-year Army career while serving in combat during three wars in Ranger and Special Operations assignments. Always a volunteer, Sergeant Major Davis served with distinction during World War II as a member of the 3rd Ranger Battalion. While engaged in heavy fighting on the Anzio Beachhead in Italy, he was wounded and subsequently captured by enemy forces. After numerous attempts, Sergeant Major Davis successfully escaped from his German Captors and made his way to Allied Lines. In 1950 during the Korean War, a call for Ranger Volunteers was again issued and Sergeant Major Davis rose to the challenge and joined the 3rd Airborne Ranger Company. After heavy fighting at the battle for "Bloody Nose Ridge", he was recognized for his superior leadership ability and awarded a battlefield commission. Following deactivation of the Airborne Ranger Companies in Korea at the start of Armistice Talks, he served with the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team and then volunteered to return to Korea and participate in extensive Ranger-related Unconventional Warfare activities. These operations served as forerunners for the establishment of Special Warfare Schools and later Special Forces units. After reverting to enlisted rank Sergeant Major Davis served several tours in Vietnam as both A and B Team leaders. Sergeant Major Davis' long and distinguished career reflects great credit on himself, past and present Ranger units, and the military service.
Vietnam War/Advisory Campaign (1962-65)
From Month/Year
March / 1962
To Month/Year
March / 1965
Description This campaign period was from 15 March 1962 to 7 March 1965. During this period, direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict increased steadily as U.S. trained Vietnamese pilots moved Vietnamese helicopter units into and out of combat. Ultimately the United States hoped that a strong Vietnamese government would result in improved internal security and national defense. The number of U.S. advisors in the field rose from 746 in January 1962 to over 3,400 by June; the entire U.S. commitment by the end of the year was 11,000, which included 29 U.S. Army Special Forces detachments. These advisory and support elements operated under the Commander, U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, a position established 8 February 1962. The object of American military assistance was to counter the threat to the government of the Republic of Vietnam posed by the insurgency of an estimated 30,000 regular communist Viet Cong and civilian sympathizers among the population. Despite what appeared to be considerable successes in consolidating the population in a series of defended strategic hamlets, and in establishing local defense forces, the U.S. equipped Army of the Republic of Vietnam repeatedly demonstrated an unwillingness to close with the enemy. A corrupt government and bitterly contending Vietnamese political factions further hampered a coherent prosecution of the war with American advisors, who nevertheless continued their efforts well into the period of large scale commitments of U.S. Army forces to the conflict.
