Doughboy MIA For October 2024: Private Fred Eugene Turner

Published: 10 October 2024

By Alexander Curran
Senior Director–Research and Field Operations
Doughboy M.I.A.

Cantigny Battle 27th April – 8th July 1918

American forces move forward during the Battle of Cantigny in 1918,

Private Fred Eugene Turner was born on March 3, 1893, in Hephzibah, Georgia. He completed his education at the local high school and was an active member of the Hephzibah Methodist Church. In 1910, his family relocated to Tampa, Florida. The Turner family was known to be quiet, and Private Turner remained relatively unknown around town. In April 1917, he told his mother that he believed the United States would soon be at war with Germany and expressed his eagerness to serve. On March 27, 1918, Private Turner enlisted in the U.S. Army in Tampa, and just ten days later, the U.S. officially declared war on Germany.

Private Turner underwent basic training at Fort Screven and was assigned to Company “E’” of the 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division. He later trained at Fort Ringgold before departing for France from Hoboken, New Jersey, on June 11, 1917. In his final letter to his mother, Private Turner wrote that he expected to return home soon and enclosed a few faded flowers from the fields of France as a Mother’s Day gift.

In the early hours of May 27, 1918, the 3rd platoon of Company “E,” 28th Infantry, moved into frontline trenches near Cantigny. Just after 5 a.m., a heavy German bombardment struck the Allied lines. It was during this bombardment that Private Turner was killed. Fellow Private Franklin Berry later recounted Fred’s death in a letter to the Graves Registration Service in 1927:

“Turner was killed by an enemy shell during a raid on the American lines on May 27, 1918. It was more the concussion than wounds that killed him. He was lying across the top of the trench with only a couple of scratches. He was as limp as a rag, shaken to death by the blast. The graves at this place were not marked—they were just put in a hole and covered, all while under shellfire. The Medical Corps men, acting as stretcher bearers, buried the dead near the aid station. There was no chaplain present. Turner was later reburied at the Villers-Tournelle American Cemetery. If you send me a map of Cantigny, I can mark where he was buried.”

During an investigation, a researcher from the Graves Registration Service noted the remains of an Unknown American Soldier, identified only by the initials “F.R.,” buried at Villers-Tournelle. It was speculated that “F.R.” might be the beginning of the name “Fred.” Although no conclusive identification was made, the Graves Registration Service believed that Private Turner had been recovered and reinterred as an Unknown American Soldier in the Somme American Cemetery.

In 1930, Private Turner’s family held out hope that his grave had been identified. His brother Henry wrote to Congressman Carl Vinson, who passed the inquiry on to the Graves Registration Service. Henry’s letter read:

“The War Department claimed his body was not located and was among the Unknown dead. His former schoolmate, who served in the same regiment, told us in our home that Fred was buried in Villers-Tournelle and that he had visited his grave. We would be glad to know if this can be verified by the War Department and whether his grave is known and marked.”

The Graves Registration Service ultimately confirmed that Private Turner’s grave had never been identified. An article published in the Tampa Tribune summed up the unfortunate reality of war:

“The parents of Fred Turner, Mr. and Mrs. J.S. Turner, citizens esteemed for their sturdiness and goodwill to all who know them, know that their son was in battle and that he was wounded unto death. That is all we know, yet. Perhaps the details will never be told; for war is but a poor chronicler of individual act.”

In 1933, the Turner family placed a memorial stone for Private Turner at Hephzibah Cemetery. Private Turner is also honored on the Tablets of the Missing at the Somme American Cemetery in Bony, France.


Would you like to be involved with solving the case of Private Fred Eugene Turner, and all the other Americans still in MIA status from World War I? You can! Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to our non-profit organization today, and help us bring them home! Help us do the best job possible and give today, with our thanks.  Remember: A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

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