Voices of Veterans: Sergeant Major Moritz Friebel Shares His Story of Service in the United States Army

Born and raised in South Dakota, Friebel said he was raised with “no electricity, no running water and no toilet paper,” and attended an old schoolhouse with eight grades and one teacher. Friebel said he felt the profound loss of life when he was a teenager.

“I lost my mother when I was 13 and I lost my father when I was 15. My older brother came home from the Army on an emergency leave for mom’s funeral and when we came home from her funeral, my dad got us together in the kitchen and the last thing he said was, ‘if anything happens to any of you kids, I want it to happen to me’ and on the 8th of April of 1945, he tipped over a tractor in the field and killed himself,” Friebel said. “At that time, my brother was in the Army, was stationed in England and went over on the Invasion of Normandy, went through the Battle of the Bulge and was Missing in Action (MIA) for three days. While we were having my father’s funeral, we got a telegram from the War Department saying my brother died in Germany the very same day my father died.”

Friebel explained why he left home shortly after graduating from high school and how he ended up in Chicago when “two guys decided to rob me, and I decided it was time to get the hell out of here.” After that, he decided to join the Army.

Friebel said they sent him to Fort Riley, Kansas before putting him on a Troop Train bound for Fort Lewis, Washington in the Pacific Northwest, which is where he did basic training. Friebel admitted that basic training “was pretty easy for me” and credited his time growing up on the farm as to why he was successful. From “throwing hay bails and taking care of the farm seven days a week” to “walking two miles to school each way,” he was ready for what they threw at him.

Following basic training, Friebel discussed how he took part in a weapons class and they “fired every weapon the infantry had, and the theory was, in combat you’re going to find all kinds of weapons on the battlefield, and you should know how to use it.”

After a year, Friebel was released back to the Army Reserves and said he returned to South Dakota and went back to work on the farm taking care of “show cattle” before getting orders to report to Fort Riley, Kansas. His first job was to type up  a type of data records known as a “DD93, an Emergency Data Form, which listed next of kin, insurance and permanent home of record” on a small 5×8 card. He typed it so much he said he could still see it in his dreams.

Friebel said he did that job for a few weeks and was later given a choice, he could either “go to Korea as an infantry replacement, or stay in Kansas.” He laughed saying that it, “took me about three seconds to ask him where my desk would be.”

Friebel explained that that was where he would remain for the “couple of months” before he was handpicked to be the next company clerk for A Company, 91st Armored Recon. He shared that the appointment was life-changing for him, and one he would not forget.

“That man taught me more about how to be a soldier than anyone I ever met,” Friebel said about his new boss who handpicked him, 1Sgt. Juan Roybal. “Most of the time, it was just him and I in the room because most of the people in our company were school troops for National Guard and Reserves seeking training or summer training at Fort Riley Kansas. Roybal ran the company. I was his clerk, and he taught me what to do, how to do it, and how to treat people.”

Friebel said that one day Roybal called him in to talk and “he started chewing me out” before peppering him with questions that came out of the blue.

“Roybal asked me when you go to the field, who eats first, you or the troops,” Friebel recounted, adding that he was only a Private First Class (PFC) at the time. “Well, a PFC doesn’t have any troops, so the troops do, is what I told him. He then asked me who gets to put up their tents in the best spots and I said the troops do. He then promoted me to Corporal.”

It’s the people lessons from his 1Sgt that have stuck with him through the years. Friebel believed he was taught a valuable lesson right after being promoted, one he has never forgotten.

“He said to me, I don’t care if you have five people under you or if you got 500, if you think you’re smarter than they are, you’re crazy as hell because combined they can make your life miserable, or if you treat them properly, they can make your job a piece of cake,” Friebel said about the advice from Roybal. “That’s the policy I worked with for the rest of my time in the Army.”

To listen to SMS Moritz Friebel tell his story, click the button below:

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Veterans can email VoicesofVeterans@glo.texas.gov to tell their stories. Please note that the Veteran must be a resident of Texas at the time of their interview.

Voices of Veterans is a state agency’s first Veteran oral history program. It records the stories of Texas Veterans through their time in service and after returning home from combat.

The VLB records interviews with Veterans over the phone or in person. Their interviews are then permanently archived in the Office of Veterans Records at the GLO, where they join the historical documents of other Texas heroes such as Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barret Travis.

Veterans’ interviews are also available to researchers, historians, genealogists, and the public. These precious records inspire future generations and remind us of our Veterans’ sacrifices.

To listen to the over 500 archived stories of Veterans documented through the GLO’s Voices of Veterans oral history program, click the button below:

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Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., brings a lifetime of experience to the Texas General Land Office (GLO). In 2016, she became the first Republican elected to the Texas State Senate from Travis County and the first woman to represent Texas Senate District 24. She made history again in 2022, winning a statewide election to become our state’s first female Land Commissioner.