Frederick Vincent Berlin

PFC in Signal Co, Special

Military occupational specialty: 521 (basic, administration)

ASN#33607661

Born 1917 in PA, Died 2004

County of residence at enlistment: Columbia County, PA

Other residence(s): Berwick, PA; Briar Creek borough, PA

United States Army, European Theatre of Operations

Occupation before the war: skilled occupations in the manufacture of miscellaneous products

Source: Unit Shipment 10143-D, 23d HQ, from le Havre 23 June 1945; Ghost Army roster by state; militaryyearbookproject.org/references/old-mos-codes/wwii-era/army...; photo courtesy Find a Grave

Fred Berlin was born (with the original name of Federico) on December 14, 1917 in Berwick, PA, the fourth of seven children. His parents had both been born in Italy; his father worked as a laborer at a railroad car manufacturing plant and died when Fred was only 12.

Fred finished his education after the eighth grade. As a youth he’d helped out in the greenhouses at “Cawnfield,” a farm/estate owned by a wealthy Berwick banker in nearby Briar Creek—an experience which would shape his post-war career. But by 1940 he had gone to work at the same railroad car plant in which his father had worked—American Car & Foundry*, a massive facility in Berwick. He registered for the draft on October 16, 1940, and on February 22, 1941, with the war looming, he married Louise Shukitis.

Fred enlisted on July 2, 1943 and was eventually assigned to the Signal Company Special. However, he did not go overseas until April 24, 1945, so he may have been in another unit before finding his way into the Ghost Army. He returned home from Europe with other members of the Signal Company, and was discharged from the Army with the rank of PFC on February 26, 1946.

His marriage to Louise did not last; by the time his first child, a son, Wayne, was born in 1947 he was married to Anna Marlene Fidrick. They would go on to have two more sons in the subsequent six years: Roland (known as Rod) and Frederick C.

At the time of the 1950 census, Fred and his family were living in the borough of Briar Creek, PA and he was still working at American Car and Foundry. But he’d also embarked on his future career, acquiring/establishing the Berlin Greenhouses in the late 1940s. The greenhouses were located on a 27-acre piece of property, where he would maintain the flower/nursery business, establish a trailer park, and build a home and barns for his own use.

Fred also became active in borough politics—serving as an officer of the Briar Creek Council, as well as on many of its committees over the years. He also managed to get awarded a contract for weed mowing in the borough.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Fred was embroiled in a number of disputes with the Council, most involving the trailer park—its possible expansion, its sewer issues, its presence in the flood plain. He spent four years fighting the borough and brought three lawsuits against it, but things eventually seem to have been settled amicably.

Fred’s son Wayne would go on to own and operate mobile home parks in Pennsylvania and throughout the northeast. His grandson would follow him onto the borough council.

A 2001 newspaper article, describing an accident in which he was involved, showed him still working to clean up trash and debris on his property at the age of 84!

Fred died on February 23, 2004 and is buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Berwick, PA.

*During World War II, the American Car & Foundry facility was retrofitted to manufacture tanks, bomb shells, and other artillery equipment. In the spring of 1938, the ACF plant had been one of several sites selected by the War Department to produce tanks for the support of the allies. The first order was received that year to build three hundred and ninety-two M2A4 tanks (the Stuart Tank); the first tank was delivered on August 14, 1940. The plant closed in 1961.