Frederick Aldo Cumer
603rd Engineer Camouflage Bn : Co D
ASN#33140024
Born 1916 in PA, Died 1993
Artist
County of residence at enlistment: Allegheny County, PA
Other residence(s): Pittsburgh, PA
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: commercial artists
College education before the war: Carnegie Tech 2 years; Duquesne
Frederick Cumer was born on September 8, 1916 in George Station (possibly Georges Station?), Pennsylvania. His parents were both immigrants from the South Tyrol, on the northern border between Italy and Austria; they had come to the US only a few years before his birth. His father was employed as a truck driver for the city.
He grew up in Pittsburgh. A 1932 article in The Pittsburgh Press mentions that he was a successful artist even in high school; that year he was one of 38 Pittsburgh high school students recognized in the National High School Art Exhibition sponsored by Scholastic Magazine.
Fred completed two years of college at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon) and Duquesne University. By October, 1940, when he filled out his draft card, he was still living in Pittsburgh with his parents and working as an artist at Fuller Label and Box Company in Pittsburgh. (A "smashed ring finger on right hand" did not seem to interfere with his artistic career.)
He enlisted in the Army on February 11, 1942, and served until September 25, 1945. An October 14, 1942 article in The Pittsburgh Press described him as a former commercial artist with Fuller Label, and said that he was stationed at Camp Wheeler in Georgia, "doing art work for the Army in the form of maps and posters." He spent 14 months overseas—from May 3, 1944 to July 2, 1945.
Sadly, his father died only a few months after he enlisted.
After the war, he returned to live with his mother in Pittsburgh. He married June A. Dudt in July, 1955, and they would go on to have three daughters. City directories in 1955 and 1958 describe him as an artist with Pittsburgh Ad-Art.
He died on October 8, 1993, and is buried with his parents and other family members at Holy Souls Cemetery in Pittsburgh. It looks like he and June separated or divorced before his death, since neither of them is mentioned in the other's obituary, and they are not buried together.
Photo:
1932 or earlier (age 16 or younger)
Sources:
1932 Pittsburgh Press article
https://www.newspapers.com/image/146908664/?terms=cumer&match=1
1940 draft card
1942 enlistment record
1942 newspaper article about his military service
https://www.newspapers.com/image/143417925/?terms=frederick%2Ba%2Bcumer
1950 Pennsylvania Veterans Compensation Record
1955 engagement announcement
https://www.newspapers.com/image/148889874/?terms=frederick%2Ba%2Bcumer
1993 Social Security death record
1993 Find a Grave record
findagrave.com/memorial/108722796/fred-a-cumer
1993 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette obituary
https://www.newspapers.com/image/88865427/?article=7b393a94-7812-4883-bf4b-a84a06efcca6