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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Sponsor

Honored by:
Ms. Anna Marie Simmet

Lt. Colonel Louis James Frauenholtz July 4, 1923- December 25, 2006

Jim proudly served his country for forty years spanning from his entry in the Army Air Corps in 1943 until his retirement from the Air Force Reserve in 1983. He always had a fascination with flying and wanted to be a pilot but due to his small stature he feared that he would have been put into a fighter plane and his real desire was the Mighty Fortress, the B24, so he changed his focus to honing his navigation skills and became a navigator/bombardier for 459th Bombardment Group-757 Squadron.

The 459th Bombardment Group moved to Italy in 1944, and was assigned to Fifteenth AF. They were engaged primarily in strategic bombardment, In Mar 1944 - Apr 1945, targets were oil refineries, munitions and aircraft factories, industrial areas, airfields, and communications centers across Europe. They received a Distinguished Unit Citation for leading the 304th Wing through enemy interceptors and intense flak to raid an airfield and aircraft assembly plant at Bad Voslau in Apr 1944. The group also flew some support and interdictory missions. They struck railroads in 1944 to cut enemy supply lines leading to the Anzio beachhead and participated in the preinvasion bombing of southern France in Aug 1944, as well as hitting railroad bridges, depots, and marshalling yards during Apr 1945 to assist Allied forces in northern Italy. They returned to the US in Aug and were inactivated on 18 Aug 1945.

During his career, he flew on 35 sorties, amongst them the Polesti Oil Fields in Rumania which was a huge success for the Allied Forces to destroy. His most cherished military awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, EAME Theater Medal, and Certificate of Valor.

After his honorable discharge from active duty in 1945, Jim returned to his hometown of Madelia, Minnesota with the love of his life, Nadine, where he ran a service station. They later bought a small school bus fleet and continued to live in Madelia until 1966 when they moved to New Ulm, Minnesota and bought and operated New Ulm Bus Lines until retirement in 1986. 
He and Nadine had two children, Robert and Anna Marie, four grandchildren, Todd, Ben, and Andy Frauenholtz and Melissa (Simmet) Brown and 8 great-children, Ben and Greta Frauenholtz, Kate and Abby Frauenholtz, Austin and Ayden Frauenholtz, and Madison and Morgan Brown.