Frederick M. Schellhammer – Colonel, United States Army

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F. SCHELLHAMMER, EX-COLONEL, DEAD

Veteran of Airborne Corps
Won 16 Decorations in E.T.O.
Former School Teacher

NEW YORK, New York, June 6, 1954 – Colonel Fred M. Schellhammer, U.S.A., retired, an educator who left the schoolroom for the battlefield and won sixteen decorations and awards during World War II, died Friday in Fort Jay General Hospital on Governors Island.  His was 45.

Colonel Schellhammer served with the Eighty-Second Airborne Division and the Eighteenth Airborne Corps in the European Theater of Operations.  He took part in eight campaigns, including the landings in Sicily, Italy, Normandy and in the Battle of the Bulge.  He organized one of the initial combat groups in Normandy after a pre-invasion landing by glider.  Colonel Schellhammer received the Purple Heart for being wounded in this action and the Bronze Star Medal for valor.

A graduate of the Infantry and Command and General Staff Schools, Colonel Schellhammer was an original member of the general staff of the Eighteenth Airborne Corps, the first airborne corps activates by the United States.  He served for three years on the general staff of General Matthew B. Ridgway in North Africa, Italy, France and Germany.

His decorations and awards also included the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Army Commendation Medal, New York State Conspicuous Service Cross and the Croix de Guerre from France and Belgium.  He was retired from the Regular Army in 1951 after suffering a heart attack.

Colonel Schellhammer, who was born in New York, received a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from City College and in 1938 and Ph.D. from Fordham University.  He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, scholastic honor society.

From 1932 to 1940 he was a teacher in Evander Childs High School, the Bronx. Active in various school-community elations, Colonel Schellhammer had been school public relations director, a member of the staff of the Institute of Adult Education and Assistant to the Dean.

He wrote numerous articled in the field of science and education for publications, including School Science, the American Biology Teacher, The Science Counselor, The Journal of Higher Education, Nations Schools, and The American School Board Journal.

Colonel Schellhammer was a member of the American Institute, the Seventy-Seventh Division Association and the Eighty-Second Airborne Division Association.  In 1954-54 he served as a member of the Army Affairs Committee of the Reserve Officers Association.

Colonel Schellhammer, whose home was at 166 Rocky Road, Larchmont, New York, leaves his wife, Mrs. Christine F. Schellhammer; a son, Paul F; a daughter, Miss Helen A.; two brothers, William and Captain Rudolph Schellhammer, and a sister, Mrs. Helen A. Gastler.

Burial will take place Tuesday in Arlington National Cemetery.

SCHELLHAMMER, FREDERICK M

  • COL USA
  • DATE OF DEATH: 06/04/1954
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 2  SITE 4922-2
    ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

SCHELLHAMMER, CHRISTINE

  • DATE OF BIRTH: 08/16/1909
  • DATE OF DEATH: 03/20/2007
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 2  SITE 4922-1
    ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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