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"Th e President of the United States During his time as Chief of Police of Tampa, it
of America, authorized by Act of was the time of prohibition, state, and local offi cials
Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure attempted to dry up Tampa, mainly to appease the
in presenting the Distinguished city's prohibitionists. Williams was able to secure
Service Cross to Captain (Infantry) a slight salary increase for the force, reorganize the
Frank M. Williams, United States Army, department and instill pride in the force and hired 20
for extraordinary heroism in action while additional police offi cers. He had been described as
serving with 325th Infantry Regiment, fl amboyant and, at times, reckless. As Chief of Police,
82nd Division, A.E.F., near St. Juvin, Major Frank Williams held a reputation for doing the
France, 12 and 16 October 1918. sensational; he led a concerted eff ort to eradicate local
During the operations in the manufacturing and consumption of alcohol. In a rare
vicinity of St. Juvin, this offi cer display of force, the police conducted several successful
demonstrated the highest personal raids. Th e fi rst places targeted were gambling joints
bravery and leadership. On October 12, and houses of prostitution located on Fift eenth Street
although he was wounded, he organized a and Sixth Avenue, where illicit liquor fl owed freely.
provisional combat group and led Figure 3. DSC Within a few months, Tampa's fi nest conducted scores
it to a ridge, repulsing an enemy of well-publicized raids on liquor dispensaries and
counterattack which threatened our left fl ank. On bootleg operators. In fact, in the fi rst half of 1921, the
October 16, while he was reconnoitering a position for department arrested 2,202 people, compared to 3,566
machine-guns, he rescued an American soldier from for all of 1920. Among those caught in Williams'
fi ve armed Germans four of whom he killed with his dragnet were 104 alcohol violators. A year later, in
pistol. Later on the same day, he saw a hostile skirmish 1922, Chief Williams was again commended by the
line advancing toward hill 182. He rushed a machine- community for his effi cient and diligent crusade
gun forward with which the attack was broken."5 against the city's underworld. With the arrival of
national prohibition in January 1920, Florida offi cials
Captain Frank M. Williams was assigned as an were no longer solely responsible for the enforcement
investigation offi cer into the October 8, 1918 battle of the liquor laws. Tampa was assigned six federal
of Argonne and the heroism attributed to Alvin C. agents whose only task was to enforce the federal anti-
York. President Wilson approved the Medal of Honor liquor statute, known as the Volstead Act.10 11
for Sergeant York on March 20, 1919.6 Following the
Armistice, Sargent York and Captain Williams were While living back in Wyoming in 1929, Frank M.
sent to Paris aft er the war by General Pershing to help Williams became a member of the Board of Directors
in the formation of the American Legion. In June 1919, and Chairman of the Buff alo Bill Museum Association,
Williams was discharged with the rank of Major from Cody, Wyoming. Later that year, he became the
the 325th Infantry, and in 1930 he was commissioned President of the Buff alo Bill Memorial Association12,
as a Colonel in the Infantry Reserve.7 8 which merged organizations into one with full legal
rights to the property of the museum, monument, and
Frank Williams retired from the Army in 1948, land, all acquired through various entities and under
with 35 years of distinguished service in the National diff erent names. Th e association took full title to the
Guard and Army and Reserve Corps to his credit. museum land in 1935.
Th e COL. F. M. Williams United States Army Reserve
Center in Miami, was named in his honor. On the Col. Williams moved to Miami in 1935, continuing
occasion of his retirement, he declared his intention working with real estate. He became President of the
to "raise earthworms and grow mangoes." It is worth Miami Chapter Reserve Offi cers Association,13 and
noting that Frank did establish the "Williams Nursery at the time of his death, was a member of the Miami
& Earthworm Hatchery: Mangoes-Flowering Shrubs Chapter Military Order of World Wars, of which he
and Earthworms" in Miami.1 was the Historian. He was also active in the aff airs
of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars,
Frank M. Williams was a past president of the Tampa Army and Navy Union.14
Real Estate Board; he was active in the Chamber
of Commerce work and civic projects throughout Frank M. Williams was Initiated 7/2/1903, Passed on
the state. He held numerous municipal and federal 8/6/1903, and Raised to the sublime degree of a Master
government positions in Florida and several Western Mason on 10/1/1903 in Shoshone Lodge #21 in Cody,
states, including serving as a deputy U.S. Marshal, Wyoming. He Dimitted from Shoshone Lodge No. 21
a Federal Prohibition Agent9, and Chief of Police of on 12/20/1911.15
Tampa from 1921 to 1925.
Montana Freemason Page 12 Sept/Oct 2020 Volume 96 No. 5