Frank Moses Jr., a member of the Buffalo Soldiers

Frank W. Moses Jr., a member of the former Fairmount Park Guards and a Philadelphia police officer who served in World War II with the famed "Buffalo Soldiers," died Thursday. He was 83 and lived in West Philadelphia.

He saw action in the Italian Campaign with the all-black 92nd Infantry Division, which won many honors for itself and whose members were known as Buffalo Soldiers.

He was in the Army from 1942 to 1945. The family cherishes a photo of him marching with other soldiers through a desolate, bombed-out town in Italy during the war.

Frank was born in Raleigh, N.C., to Mattie Boykin and Frank Moses Sr. After arriving in Philadelphia, he attended Benjamin Franklin High School before entering the Army.

After his discharge, he went to work for the Postal Service for a time before joining the Fairmount Park Guards in 1956. He worked in the park until the final years of his service when he was transferred to regular police duties. He retired in 1980.

He married the former Mattie Brown on Christmas Eve 1952.

During his police career, Frank also worked part time for Sears for 30 years, handling stock, inventory and the garden department.

He was 78 when he finally retired. Then he was able to indulge his favorite pastime of watching old movies on television.

"He was a quiet man, a homebody," said his daughter Vanessa Moses-White. "He was a man of few words, but when he did say something, it carried a lot of weight."

Besides his wife and daughter, he is survived by another daughter, Evanna Hill; a son, Marcel Moses; two grandsons and one granddaughter.

Services: 10 a.m. Friday at First Corinthian Baptist Church, 51st and Pine streets. Friends may call at 9 a.m. Burial will be in the Indiantown Gap National Cemetery. *