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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. Donald Holmes

Frank Holmes was born July 13, 1920 on a farm in the vicinity of Palmyra, Illinois. He went to grade school in two different one-room schoolhouses. After completion of grade school he worked as a farm laborer for three years until, through the kindness of friends, an opportunity arose to attend high school at the age of 17. He completed high school in three years while earning room and board as a cook/dishwasher/waiter in a restaurant.
At the invitation of the President of Blackburn College, he enrolled there in 1940 where he was to meet his future wife, Caryl, and complete two years of college before enlisting in the Navy as a Naval Aviation Cadet in August 1942. For the 1940 - 41 years he worked 40 hours a week as Chem. Lab Assistant and cook at Blackburn and a sales clerk in a Men's Clothing Store during the academic years; and served as cook and 2nd Mate on the USS Henry Disston during the summer of 1941 (another complete story in its self --too lengthy to describe here).
While waiting the call to active duty in the Navy, he prepared for running the obstacle course at Pre-Flight School by working on a railroad section gang, driving spikes and shoveling gravel. He was called to active duty and completed Primary Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) at Quincy, Illinois; Secondary (CPT) at Iowa City, Iowa; USN Pre-Flight School at Iowa City, Iowa and Primary Flight Training at NAS Glenview, Illinois. He completed all other phases of Flight Training at NAS Corpus Christi, Texas and was commissioned as Ens USNR on April 8, 1944 with operational qualifications in 0S2U aircraft.
His first assignment, following some leave and travel, was with Scouting Squadron 48 (VS48), flying 0S2Us, doing inshore patrol in Southeastern Alaska. VS48 soon moved to Attu where they continued inshore patrol and flew air sea rescue for the Navy squadrons on bombing missions against the Kurile Islands. In a few months VS48 was split into detachments and moved to other areas in the Aleutians, one of which was Dutch Harbor. Although he had only been commissioned a few months, he drew the assignment as Senior Aviator (Officer-in-Charge) of VS48 Detachment Dutch Harbor. At Dutch harbor they soon transitioned from OS2Us to SBD-5s and continued their mission of inshore patrol. The Aleutian challenge was the weather, seldom good and always unpredictable. As a squadron, VS48 lost five aircraft; three due to weather and two because of mechanical malfunctions. Ens Holmes lost one of the five -- when the engine quit, he ditched in the bay off Dutch Harbor. His crewmember and he survived with minor injuries -- the only surviving crew from the five who were lost.
In June 1945 he returned to the states for reassignment and operational training in TBMs at NAS Ft Lauderdale, Florida. When World War II ended he sought release from active duty and was granted same. Caryl and Frank were married in Ft Lauderdale and lived there for a few months before returning to the Chicago area where they lived with her parents as they struggled with what to do with their lives. Frank wanted to return to college but colleges were crowded and worst of all housing was practically non-existent and by now they were expecting. All this was settled for them when Frank received an invitation from the Navy for a change in status from USNR to USN and an immediate return to active duty. He returned to active duty Dec 13, 1946.
Following years included duty with:
VA22a -- TBM Operational Training Squadron at NAS San Diego (Carrier
Qualification),
VA12a - TBM Squadron in Air Group 11 aboard the USS Valley Forge,
FASRON 11 - NAS Ford Island Oahu and Yokuska Japan,
NAVAL AIR TECHNICAL TRAINING UNIT - NAS Lakehurst NJ (PC R4D),
VR1 - R5D & R7V Squadron at NAS Patuxent River MD (PC R5D & PC R7V),
USN Post Graduate School Monterey, CA -- Line School,
NROTC Tulane -- College Refresher,
Naval Preflight School Pensacola - Military Science Instructor
USN Post Graduate School Monterey CA -- Engineering School (BS Aeronautical
Eng)
NROTC Ames Iowa (MS Nuclear Engineering)
VP16 -- P2V squadron at NAS Jacksonville Fl and NAF Signorelli Sicily (PPC
P2V),
BUWEPS -- Project Manager Navy Navigation Satellite System at Washington D.C.
NAS Point Mugu CA - Operations Officer Navy Astronautics Group where upon
completion of his assignment there Frank retired from active naval service on
July 1, 1966 as a Commander.
Frank believes that his greatest contribution to Aviation and Space programs came during the six years that he spent as Project Manager of the Navy Navigation Satellite System (TRANSIT) during its development at BUWEPS and subsequently as Operations Officer at the Navy Astronautics Group during its initial operational deployment.
After completing 24 years in the Navy, Frank started a second career with TRW Systems in Redondo Beach, California where he was to complete another 24 years in a wide variety of interesting and challenging assignments in the world of Aerospace systems and Computer related mission applications. In 1968, he completed the requirements for and received a Master of Engineering degree from UCLA. He managed the first study of what is now the Global Positioning System (GPS) that has become so widely used today. Among other interesting assignments, Caryl accompanied him to:
(1) Australia where he served at the US/Australia Joint Defense Research Facility and,
(2) Italy where he led a multinational team of engineers in the development of command and control computer system requirements for Commander Naval Forces South (NATO).
On July 1, 1990 he left employment for pay and has since served as a volunteer with:
(1) AARP Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (VITA/TCE) program as a Local Coordinator,
(2) The Retired Activities Office (NRAO) at Naval Station Long Beach/ Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach as Assistant Director,
(3) St Paul's Lutheran Church as Men's Group Leader.
Caryl and Frank are blessed with Donald Bruce (Oct 1, 1946), John Glen (Dec 14, 1948) and Cindy Ellen (Feb 14, 1955).