Memories of Frank Rocco Fratellenico

Corporal, U.S. Army Company B, 2d Battalion, 502d Infantry, 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division.

Place and Date: Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam, 19 August 1970.

Entered Service at: Albany, N.Y.

Born : 14 July 1951, Sharon, Conn.

Cpl. Fratellenico distinguished himself while serving as a rifleman with Company B. Cpl. Fratellenico's squad was pinned down by intensive fire from 2 well-fortified enemy bunkers. At great personal risk Cpl. Fratellenico maneuvered forward and, using hand grenades, neutralized the first bunker which was occupied by a number of enemy soldiers. While attacking the second bunker, enemy fire struck Cpl. Fratellenico, causing him to fall to the ground and drop a grenade which he was preparing to throw. Alert to the imminent danger to his comrades, Cpl. Fratellenico retrieved the grenade and fell upon it an instant before it exploded. His heroic actions prevented death or serious injury to 4 of his comrades nearby and inspired his unit which subsequently overran the enemy position. Cpl. Fratellenico's conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary heroism, and intrepidity at the cost of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

From Ronnie Edwards:

Frank Rocco Fratallinco was a kid from New York City. He was in a group of new recruits to L Co that volunteered straight from the 101st Repo Depo shortly after the company lost a whole team in early May 1970. He went through the company training and the "training mission" with the rest of us "FNGs". In L Co everyone had a code name for use on the radio. Usually it was something you picked for yourself but sometime your choice was simply discarded and something else given to you by popular acclaim. Frank's choice was "Rocky" (this was before the movie) but after the training mission he was forever known as "Sniffles". It seemed that Frank was carrying a bottle of insect repellant in his front pants pocket and didn't put the cap on tight. The entire bottle leaked out while we were on the move. Well, Frank must have had some sensitive balls because when that insect repellant hit them he "sniffled" for the last two days of the mission.

I don't want to mince words here, In Frank's personal conduct around the company he was a real asshole. He was a smartass when sober and a smartass jerk when drunk. It was normal for him to get drunk in the rear as did most of us, but then he would go around picking fights with guys twice his size. He was a real scrapper, but in this company the big guys were just bigger scrappers. I do not recall anyone who actually claimed him as a friend. Some said he had a lot of family problems in the states, that his family had practically disowned him for joining the army, but that's probably just scuttlebutt.

SOP in the Ranger Company was if a new guy was sent out with a team and the Team Leader came back and said he didn't want him, the newbie was sent out with another team. If that Team Leader came back with a bad report then the guy was history. Well, "Sniffles" did not do well in the field. He made too much noise, didn't seem to be paying attention, and worse of all fell asleep on guard. The Rangers would put up with a lot of strange personality traits in the rear but you had to have your shit together when you hit the bush. Frank did not have his shit together and what was worse didn't seem to care. Maybe that was just the New York City in him I don't know. Our Platoon Sergeant, SFC Taylor (Popeye) must have seen something in him that the rest of us didn't because even after his two bad missions he kept trying to keep him in the company. SFC Taylor finally lost that battle and Frank was sent to a line company and about 2 weeks later won the Medal of Honor (posthumously). "Sniffles" was known to say he was going to get some Medals, and he damn sure did that.

That's just the way I remember it, anyone is welcome to straighten me out.