Honoring a father, teacher, fallen Marine

Photo By Cpl. Thomas Provost | Capt. Warren A. Frank died while conducting operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Nov. 25, 2008. He was the officer in charge of Fire Control Team 4, 1st Brigade Platoon, 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, III Marine Expeditionary Force. A remembrance ceremony was held in his honor, May 22, in front of the 5th ANGLICO command post on Camp Hansen.  

05.29.2009

Story by Lance Cpl. Thomas Provost 

III Marine Expeditionary Force   

The 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, III Marine Expeditionary Force, held a remembrance ceremony, May 22, in front of the unit's command post in honor of Capt. Warren A. Frank, who was killed, Nov. 25, 2008, during combat operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

During the ceremony, Frank's former commanding officer, sergeant major and platoon commander spoke of his personality and accomplishments.

While the officer-in-charge of Fire Control Team 4, 1st Brigade Platoon, 5th ANGLICO, III MEF, Frank always found the time to educate his Marines in the skills they may need during the deployment.

"He had a wealth of knowledge of operations going on in Iraq," said Cpl Ryan K. Pyle, a field radio operator with FCT 4, 1st Brigade Plt., 5th ANGLICO, III MEF, from Cedartown, Ga. "He was constantly teaching us."

Frank deployed twice to Iraq as an infantry officer before coming to 5th ANGLICO. Since the majority of his team was on their first deployment, he taught them everything from the operation and employment of machine guns to setting up a foreign weapons class, where his team learned how to operate AK-47s and other weapons belonging to foreign militaries.

Cpl. Timothy S. Bode, a fire support man with FCT 4, 1st Brigade Plt., 5th ANGLICO, III MEF, from St. Paul, Minnesota, recalled Frank's advice, while on a dismounted patrol. He told him to keep moving around while (the patrol was) stopped in one place so enemy snipers would not be able to get a clear shot, Bode said.

While teaching his Marines how to survive in a war zone, Frank did not forget about his family and the families of his Marines.

"He was all about family first," Bode said. "He wrote letters to our parents telling them how great of a job we were doing. He was there for us and our families."

Not only was Frank a family man with a wife and two daughters, he was also a highly regarded infantry officer.

A graduate of the esteemed military institute, The Citadel, in Charleston, S.C., Frank was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.

"I watched him become a first lieutenant going into his second deployment [as] a fierce warrior who the enemy had to fear," said Sgt. Maj. Gary Moran, sergeant major of 5th ANGLICO, III MEF, from Philadelphia, who had previously been assigned to 1st Bn., 3rd Marines, 1st Mar Div., with Frank.

From being an excellent family man and father to being a teacher to his Marines, the speakers at the ceremony portrayed Frank as a man who had his priorities engraved in stone.

Family first, his Marines second and the Marine Corps third, said Pyle.

• Date Taken: 05.29.2009
• Date Posted: 05.29.2009 03:14
• Story ID: 34249