Sgt. Fred William Wolfe
Company K, 339th Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army

Born: 24 Dec 1892 near Northport, Michigan
Enlisted: 15 March 1909, Detroit, Michigan
Civilian Occupation: Sign Painter
Married: Margaret Kenney 30 Jan 1922
Died: 10 Nov 1951
(killed by a drunk driver while crossing State Fair Ave.
near his home on Keating Street in Detroit)

Fred Wolfe was a three-fourths Native American from the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.

Sgt. Wolfe fought on the Emtsa River Front at Kodish, Mejnovskaya, Avda, and Tegra.
He was awarded the British Distinguished Conduct Medal for his service in North Russia. His citation reads as follows:

Fred W. Wolfe, 2021728, sergeant, Company K, 339th Infantry, 85th Division. American Expeditionary Forces, Russia. British Distinguished Conduct Medal, List No. 55, dated January 9, 1920, British War Office. Residence at enlistment: 549 Stanley Avenue, Detroit, Michigan.

Sgt. Fred Wolfe is at the center top of this photo, which was likely taken in Archangel during the two week period in
early November 1918 when Company K was rotated back from the Emtsa Front. The men are dressed for the rifle range. Others in this photo have been identified as (middle row, left to right), Sgts. John Watson, Howard Nylus and Walter Pease (source: "Detroit's Own Polar Bears", by Stan Bozich, pg. 18).

The two men in the very lower front row could be Sgts. Earl Coulter, Bernard Crowe (Grewe) and/or Sgt. Michael Kenney, who were all casualties of fighting at the village of Kodish on the Emtsa River. Sgt. Coulter was wounded and Sergeants Crowe and Kenney were both killed at Kodish on 30 Dec 1918. Sgt. Crowe is buried in Mt. Elliott Cemetery, Detroit. Sgt. Kenney was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Flushing, Queens, New York and he is very likely the person at the lower left of the above photo.

Sgt. Wolfe is at left.

Sgt. Wolfe is at far right.

A pencil sketch made by Sgt. Wolfe on Regimental stationery in 1919 while in Russia.

(click to enlarge)
Sgt Fred Wolfe (far left) and Sgt. Levi Bartels (far right) along with
other member of Company K; 10 July 1919, Camp Custer, MI
(photo courtesy of Marcia Fischer and Bruce Bartels)

Fred was discharged from the Army at Camp Custer on 19 July 1919, at which time he held the rank of First Sergeant. He later became a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Polar Bear Post No. 436 in Detroit. (the photo of their Post's stone in the 1939 Michigan Veteran's Monument at Woodward and State Fair in Detroit is from the webmaster's collection).

Fred at work as a sign painter, after the war.

Here is a photo of Company D, 1st Infantry, Michigan National Guard at Camp Duffield, 1912.
Apparently Fred was a member of this Company during that period and he appears in this photo kneeling in the front row, fourth from the left.

All photos are courtesy of Brian O'Dowd, Fred Wolfe's grandson, unless otherwise noted.

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