Frank Olga Slater was born on 19 December 1920 in Kennamer Cove, Alabama, one of twelve children of James Lafayette Slater, a sharecropper and Lenora (Morgan) Slater. He grew up in Fyffe, Alabama. He enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve on 10 February 1942. Upon completion of his basic training, he was transferred to the Receiving Station at Pearl Harbor, and assigned to the heavy cruiser on 4 April 1942. On 12 November 1942 he was killed in action at his battle station during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.