Wozencraft, Frank W.

Description

Frank Wilson Wozencraft was born on June 7, 1892, in Dallas, Texas, to Gen. Alfred Prior Wozencraft and Virginia Lee Wilson. His father had been attorney general of Texas.

He attended St. Matthew’s School for Boys in Dallas, graduated from Dallas High School (1909), and received his B.A. (1913) and LL.B. (1914) degrees from the University of Texas, where he became a member of the Delta Chi fraternity. His first position was in his father’s law office. He worked as an attorney for Southwestern Telephone and Telegraph.

At the outbreak of World War I, he organized the Dallas Greys. He transferred and served as captain of Company B, 144th Infantry Regiment, 36th Division Division.

The 144th Infantry Regiment was formed on October 15, 1917, at Camp Bowie in Fort Worth, Texas, by consolidating the 4th Texas Infantry and the 6th Texas Infantry. It served as part of the 72nd Infantry Brigade within the 36th Infantry Division (known as the “Lone Star Division”).

After training in Texas, the unit arrived in France in July 1918 and underwent further training near Bar-sur-Aube. The 144th Infantry saw its most significant action during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in the Champagne region. On October 9, 1918, the regiment relieved elements of the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division on the front lines. The unit pushed through heavy German artillery, machine-gun fire, and chemical gas to reach positions along the Aisne River by October 12, 1918. The regiment suffered heavily during the war, losing 369 men, the second-highest toll among the infantry regiments in the 36th Division.

After the war, Frank returned to Dallas to practice law. He was elected Mayor of Dallas, Texas, 1919-21, defeating the incumbent mayor who was running for re-election. Called “the Kid Mayor of Dallas”, he was 26 and was said to be the youngest mayor of any major American city. He declined renomination as mayor in 1921. Sixty-four Texas mayors proposed he be nominated as the next Texas governor, but he declined, noting he was legally underage for that office.

Frank married Mary Victoria McReynolds on June 7, 1922, in his hometown. They had two children during their marriage. After refusing re-nomination as mayor, he practiced law with the firm of Leake, Henry, Wozencraft & Frank in Dallas.

In 1931, Frank was named General Counsel Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in New York City as the corporation’s legal counsel. He and his family moved to Rye, NY and lived on Stuyvesant Ave. After joining R.C.A., he travelled to Washington, where he frequently represented the company before the Federal Communications Commission during the initial hearings laying the legal groundwork for television and frequency modulation broadcasting.

Frank resigned from RCA to enlist and serve in the US Army during World War II He served from 1942 to 1946 and attained the rank of Lt. Colonel. At at the end of the War, he served with the American-British Combined Communications Board of the Combined Chiefs of Staff. Lt. Colonel Wozencraft was awarded the Legion of Merit and Order of the British Empire.

After the war, he returned to Dallas where he was a partner with former FCC commissioner Norman S. Case in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Case & Wozencraft and later with Leake, Henry, Golden, Burrow and Potts. He was a 32nd degree Freemason, Knight Templar, Shriner and a Rotarian. He was active with the Boy Scouts of America and a member of the local, state and American bar associations.

Frank Wozencraft died September 3, 1966, in Dallas, Texas, at the age of 74. He was interred at the Greenwood Cemetery, Dallas.

At the time of his death, he was survived by two sons, John of Boston and Frank of Washington. Son, Frank Wozencraft was appointed by President Johnson on Feb. 26, 1966 as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice.