Frank Walter Davis

FIRST LIEUTENANT FRANK W. DAVIS was born July 10, 1897 in Camden NJ to James W. and Cecelia H. Davis. The Davis family traced its roots back to the Philadelphia Quakers of the early 1700s. His father was in the life insurance business. 

The Davis family moved to Camden in 1908, when the family relocated to Wenonah NJ.  Frank W. Davis was a graduate of Woodbury High School in Woodbury NJ. After serving in the United States Army in World War I and rising to the rank of First Sergeant, Frank Davis graduated from the Dickinson College Law School in 1921. He was a partner in the law firm of Riggins and Davis, and lived in Merchantville NJ prior to entering the Army in September of 1941. 

The 1930 census shows Frank and Elizabeth Davis living at 1480 Kaighn Avenue in the Parkside section of Camden. In 1936, the Bell Telephone Directory revealed that Frank W. Davis was making his offices at 313 Market Street in Camden.

After training in Miami FL, Frank Davis was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He worked in the Adjutant General's office in Washington DC. He subsequently served at Jackson MS and was promoted to First Lieutenant. When Courtland Army Army Air Base opened up in Courtland AL opened up, he was transferred there as an intelligence officer.

On May 12, 1943 Axis POWs escaped from a nearby camp. First Lieutenant Davis was in a car with two other soldiers pursuing the escapees, when the car veered of the road and crashed. Frank Davis was killed instantly, and his two companions were seriously injured.  

Frank W. Davis was survived by his wife, Agnes C. Davis, of Courtland AL, his parents, of Stone Harbor NJ, and a sister, Mrs. Evelyn Kramer. A funeral was held for him in Camden NJ at the Joseph Murray Funeral Home at 406 Cooper Street. He was buried at Locustwood Memorial Park, in what was then Delaware Township NJ. His death was reported in the May 13, 1944 edition of the Camden Courier-Post.