He graduated from high school in 1889 and attended the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, where he became a member of the Zeta Phi chapter of Beta Theta Pi, captain of the university battalion, and played on the baseball team.

[1] F. D. Wickham was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army and assigned to the 16th Infantry Regiment on June 27, 1898.

[1] On May 15, 1917, Wickham was promoted to major, and on the fifth of August he was made a lieutenant colonel of infantry in the National Army.

[2] While at Oklahoma A&M, Wickham became acquainted with Major Bohumil Makovsky, director of the college regiment band.

[8] From there he was transferred to Fort Douglas, Utah, with the 38th Infantry, where he established the "Wickham Cup" in 1921 as an award for marksmanship.