Peeples, Frank Kohler, Sr., 2011 May 10

This is a Living History interview with Frank Peeples Senior, class of 1949, conducted by Marilyn Somers on May 5, 2011 at his home in Savannah, Georgia. The subject of the interview is the interviewee’s life and experiences at Georgia Tech.

Mr. Peeples was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1927. Both of his parents were from Savannah. His grandfather ran Peeples Hardware Company in Savannah and his father owned Georgia Tin Plate & Metal Company. Mr. Peeples lived in the same house for the first eight years of his life with his parents and older brother, Homer. Mr. Peeples’ family had a live-in maid named Patience, who taught Mr. Peeples to enjoy collard greens but putting ketchup on them. Mr. Peeples attended Henry Street School in first grade, where his teacher was Mrs. Ruth Pascall. His family also owned a house on nearby Tybee Island, where the family would spend their summers. After first grade, Mr. Peeples family moved into a new house near Daffin Park, where he attended Charles Ellis Elementary. He later attended Richard Arnold Junior High School and Washington Avenue Junior High School. Mr. Peeples was downstairs in his home when he heard the radio upstairs announce that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. He immediately went upstairs and listened to the rest of the announcement. During World War II, Mr. Peeples was a member of Junior ROTC at Washington Avenue Junior High, where he received some basic training. Mr. Peeples attended Savannah High School, where he was the head manager of the football team each year. He began classes at Georgia Tech the week after the graduated from high school in order to be exempt from the draft. During his first semester at Tech, Mr. Peeples had a surprise visit to his dorm room from Coach Bobby Dodd who asked him to work as the football manager. He began the following week and worked as the manager all four years at Tech. Mr. Peeples was called in for a physical for the draft, however he was turned down for a strange reason. Mr. Peeples believes that Coach Bobby Dodd was keeping his players and managers from the draft. At the end of his freshman year, Mr. Peeples declared Industrial Engineering as his major. During his sophomore year as football manager, he was asked by Coach Dodd to be the head senior football manager, even though there were boys older than him. Mr. Peeples signed up for ROTC during his senior year, and was selected for one of the twelve spots. He did ROTC for four years, and the day he graduated, he received commission. He worked for his father for a few months before he began his military career. He was inducted as a Second Lieutenant and began teaching classes and running meetings in the reserves. After a few months, he was put on a committee that ran basic training. After only six weeks in his new job, he was promoted to First Lieutenant. Mr. Peeples attended Infantry School at Fort Benning, where he finished third in his class. He was soon given orders to report to Fort Lewis, Washington and after a week he was flown to Haneda, Japan. Mr. Peeples was assigned to the 14th Infantry Regiment in South Korea, and he commanded a section of the line in the Punchbowl. Once he was relieved of this job, he was moved to the Mundung-ni Valley, where he served on the Battalion Staff. After ten months in Korea, Mr. Peeples returned home and was discharged soon after. He began working for his ex-father-in-law for Stevens Shipping Company. However, his ex-father-in-law sold the company out from under him, so he started his own company, Southeastern Maritime Company, which later morphed into Peeples Industries, Inc. Mr. Peeples married his second wife, Elizabeth in 1963. He has three children, a daughter from his first marriage and a son and daughter with Elizabeth. He has five grandchildren.