THE BATTALION COMMANDER
LIEUTENANT Colonel Frank W. Norris was born October 21, 1915 in Wharton, Texas.
Moving to Austin he attended Austin High School and the University of Texas in 1933 and 1934
before receiving an appointment to the United States Military Academy. The Colonel entered
West Point in 1934 and graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant of Field Artillery June 14, 1938.
Just out of the Academy, he was sent to the 15th Field Artillery at Fort Sam Houston,
Texas, where he served as Battery Executive until June 1939, when he returned to the Point on
Pentathlon detail and went into training for the Olympic Games. However, it soon became
evident with the outbreak of war that there would be no Olympics, and in November 1939, the
Colonel went to Fort Hoyle, Maryland, as an Assistant and later Communications Officer in the
16th Field Artillery Battalion, then at Fort Myer, Virginia. The 16th moved to Fort Riley, Kansas
and it was there that Colonel Norris received orders in January 1942 to report to the 90th Infantry
Division which was being reactivated at Camp Barkeley, Texas.
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