Fred Jurgen Schnepel

Under Fire, the Signal Never Broke

Fred Jurgen Schnepel was born on February 24, 1892, in New York City. He entered the United States Navy and began a career that would eventually carry him from the enlisted ranks to Chief Quartermaster. The moment that defined his place in American military history came much earlier, however, when he was serving as an Ordinary Seaman aboard USS Florida during the American seizure of Vera Cruz, Mexico, in April 1914.

Tensions between the United States and Mexico had intensified during the Mexican Revolution, and in April 1914 American naval forces were ordered to occupy Vera Cruz. Sailors and Marines landed on April 21 and soon encountered armed resistance in the city. Streets, buildings, rooftops, and other elevated positions became dangerous as rifle fire struck the American forces moving inland.

Schnepel was assigned to a signal squad under Ensign Edward Orrick McDonnell. The team included Schnepel, Charles F. Bishop, James A. Walsh, and Charles L. Nordsiek. Their responsibility was not to lead an infantry assault but to maintain communications between the forces ashore and American naval vessels supporting the operation. That task placed them in one of the most exposed positions in the fighting.

On April 21, the signal squad established its position on the roof of the Terminal Hotel at Vera Cruz. Beginning at approximately 11:30 that morning, the men remained there until sunset. They returned to the rooftop at daylight on April 22 and resumed their work as fighting continued around them.

The location offered the visibility necessary for signaling, but it also left the sailors dangerously exposed. Enemy fire repeatedly swept the rooftop and the surrounding area. A Marine was killed nearby, an electrician third class was seriously wounded, and Nordsiek, one of Schnepel’s fellow signalmen, was wounded. Despite the casualties and the constant danger, the signal squad remained at its post.

Their mission was to maintain efficient communication by signal with USS Prairie. Those communications were crucial because naval and landing forces depended on reliable information while the fighting developed through the city. Schnepel and his companions continued transmitting and receiving signals instead of abandoning their exposed position.

The official record emphasized that the men were not diverted from their important duty despite the continuous fire directed around them. Their communication remained effective through the fighting, allowing the forces ashore to maintain contact with naval support. Schnepel’s persistence in that exposed signal station became the foundation of his Medal of Honor recognition.

For his conduct during the seizure of Vera Cruz on April 21 and 22, 1914, Schnepel was awarded the Medal of Honor. At the time of the action he held the rating of Ordinary Seaman and was serving aboard USS Florida. His official citation recognized his extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession during the operation. The award was authorized in Navy General Order No. 101, dated June 15, 1914.

The Medal of Honor was presented to Schnepel on January 6, 1915. Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels made the presentation aboard USS Florida at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The ceremony formally recognized an act of courage that had occurred nearly nine months earlier on the exposed rooftop at Vera Cruz.

Schnepel’s service at Vera Cruz also qualified him for the Mexican Service Medal. Authorized by the Navy Department in 1918, the decoration recognized Navy and Marine Corps personnel who had served during designated American operations in Mexico. Naval regulations specifically included personnel who served ashore at Vera Cruz from April 21 through April 23, 1914, as well as personnel serving aboard qualifying vessels. USS Florida itself qualified for the medal for service beginning April 21, the same day Schnepel went ashore with the signal squad.

The two decorations reflected different aspects of the same period of service. The Mexican Service Medal represented qualifying participation in the American operations at Vera Cruz, while the Medal of Honor recognized Schnepel’s exceptional personal conduct under fire. His place in the action was not based on command authority or an assault role, but on maintaining communications from a position where remaining at work required exceptional courage.

Schnepel continued his naval career after Vera Cruz and eventually attained the rating of Chief Quartermaster. That advancement reflected a career increasingly associated with navigation, signaling, and the specialized responsibilities of the Navy’s quartermaster rating. His Medal of Honor action had taken place while he was still an Ordinary Seaman, making the distinction between his rank at the time of the heroic action and the higher rating he later achieved especially important.

Much of Schnepel’s surviving historical reputation centers on those two days in April 1914. The seizure of Vera Cruz produced numerous acts of gallantry, but the signal squad’s experience demonstrated a different form of battlefield courage. Its members were required to remain visible and exposed precisely because their work depended on maintaining communication. Leaving the rooftop could have protected them from some of the danger, but it would also have interrupted their mission.

Fred Jurgen Schnepel died on February 7, 1948. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, joining generations of American servicemen whose military careers became part of the nation’s permanent historical memory.

His legacy rests on a simple but demanding responsibility: keep the signal working. For two days at Vera Cruz, bullets struck around the rooftop where his squad operated, men nearby were killed or wounded, and the exposed position remained dangerous. Schnepel stayed at his post and helped preserve the communication link with USS Prairie. That steadfast performance under fire earned him the Medal of Honor and ensured that the Ordinary Seaman on the roof of the Terminal Hotel would be remembered long after the signals themselves had faded.