Captain (later Major)
Robert B. Yates (left) and
First Lieutenant (later
Captain) Preston C. Hodges
at Macomb Reservation,
Plattsburg, NY, 1943.
diately called on to command units and slow the German
advance.9
When Colonel Fraser arrived, the first thing he did
was call the battalion officers together, introduce
He sketched his own
himself, and outline his policies.
past and had an opportunity to talk with each of the
officers long enough to find out their background and size
them up personally.10
Prior to coming to the battalion, Colonel Fraser had
a brilliant background, but it was almost entirely
After graduating from the U.S.
confined to staff work.
Military Academy in 1939, he spent a period of close to
three years on Oahu (Hawaii) at Schofield Barracks. He
was due to return 8 December 1941, but remained by re-
quest for nine more months.
The remainder of his pre-
breakthrough career was spent as an Engineer battalion
commander working on routine road and airstrip con-
struction, plus doing a few shifts with Communications
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