Frank W. Coe

Frank Winston Coe was born in Manhattan, Kansas, on November 27, 1870.^[1] He attended Kansas State Agricultural College for three years, and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1892.^[2] Coe was appointed a second lieutenant of Field Artillery.^[3]

Coe's initial assignments with the 1st Field Artillery included Fort Hamilton, New York and Fort Monroe, Virginia.^[4]

During the Spanish–American War Coe served at Key West Barracks, Florida, where his unit was responsible for the defense of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.^[5]

Coe's post-war assignments included: instructor in mathematics at West Point; adjutant of the School of Submarine Defense at Fort Totten, New York; adjutant at West Point; adjutant at Fort Monroe; assistant to the Chief of Coast Artillery; director of the Coast Artillery School at Fort Monroe; and Coast Artillery postings at Governors Island and Fort Totten, New York, and Fort Kamehameha, Hawaii.^[6] In the years immediately prior to World War I he served as Del Rio, Texas during the Pancho Villa Expedition, and in San Francisco, California on the staff of the Army's Western Department.^[7]

During World War I Coe served initially as chief of staff of the 1st Division in Saint-Nazaire, France.^[8] He was then promoted to brigadier general, and commanded the 1st Separate Coast Artillery Brigade, which was subsequently reorganized as the 30th Coast Artillery Brigade and then the Railway Artillery Reserve, First United States Army.^[9] He was succeeded by his brother in law, Brigadier General William Chamberlaine, as commander of the Railway Artillery Reserve.^[10]

For his World War I service Coe received the Army Distinguished Service Medal; the British Order of St. Michael and St. George, and the French Legion of Honor (commander).^[11] The citation for his Army DSM reads:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Major General Frank Winston Coe, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I, in the reorganization of the Coast Artillery, thereby enabling it to meet the great demand for overseas artillery.^[12]

In June 1918, Coe was promoted to major general and assigned as Chief of Coast Artillery. He served in this post until retiring in 1926, when he was succeeded by Andrew Hero Jr.^[13]

In 1920, Coe received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the Kansas State Agricultural College.^[14]

Coe resided in Washington, D.C. after his retirement from the Army. He died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on May 25, 1947^[15] after several years of ill health and complications brought on by a broken hip.^[16] He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Section 3, Site 1868A.^[17][18]