 Born at Fort Ringgold, Texas, in 1877, to Edmond G. Fechet, his military experience began with his youth as an Army Infantry officer's son living at various frontier stations in the West.He left the University of Nebraska in 1898 in his third year as a mechanical engineering student to serve as an enlisted man in the Spanish–American War.Wounded seriously at San Juan Hill in Cuba, Fechet recovered and applied for a commission.