Scope and Contents

The collection consists of one copy of Roots of Defeat by Michael Frankwicz.

Biographical / Historical

Captain Michael J. Frankwicz was born in 1935 in Milwaukee, WI. He volunteered for the U.S. Army in 1955. He went to Ft. Leonard Wood, MO for basic training as a platoon sergeant with the 86th Reconnaissance Battalion, 6th Armored Division. He then went to Ft. Dix, NJ for advanced infantry training as a field fortifications instructor with the 69th Infantry Division. He then went to Ft. Benning, GA for Officer Candidate School followed by jump school and jump master school. He then was assigned to Schweinfurt, Germany with the 86th Infantry, 10th Mountain Division. He also served with the 2nd Battle Group, 504th Parachute Infantry at Augsburg, Germany. In 1961, he was sent to the U.S. Army language school at the Presidio of Monterey, CA to learn Vietnamese before proceeding to his assignment with the Vietnamese Airborne Brigade as a battalion advisor. Once in Vietnam, he was assigned to command all American elements at Kontum where the ARVN 40th Infantry Regiment and several divisional units of the ARVN 22nd Division were based. He also served as an advisor to the Kontum Province Civil Guard Battalion and the Self-Defense Corps Training Center. He was honorably discharged in 1964. After his military service, he worked for the St. Louis County Civil Service Commission while taking night classes at Washington University, eventually starting a career in the computer industry and owning his own business.