Growing up as a Delta farm boy, retired appellate court judge John Fraiser dreamed of flying.
Fraiser realized his dream before the age of 18. In service to his country, he flew as a turret gunner with the 15th Air Force aboard a B-24 Liberator during World War II.
Fraiser said he and his fellow airmen helped change the way war was fought.
“We proved we could win a war not only by killing the bugs but killing the eggs in the nest,” he said.
More than 70 years after serving in one of WWII’s most dangerous combat roles, Fraiser said he was blessed to live to share his experiences with Starkville Rotarians Monday.
Following the war, Fraiser opened a private practice law firm in Greenwood. After 42 years, he closed its doors in 1997 only to continue his career as a Mississippi Supreme Court magistrate and later as a judge for the Mississippi Court of Appeals. Fraiser said his time as an airman helped guide the course of his career — learning the importance of public service.
Charged with completion of 35 missions to end his tour of duty, Fraiser said the odds were stacked against him and his crew.
“The highest casualty rates of combat people in World War II was combat airmen in the air forces in the European theater. You had about two chances out of five of completing all those missions.”
Taking part in the Oil Campaign, Fraiser’s crew bombed factories and refineries, helping to cut off the Axis fuel supply in the European theater.
“They had to depend on petroleum products, and that’s where we were bombing,” Fraiser said. “We were hitting the big targets.”
Returning from Fraiser’s first bombing mission in Vienna, the crew’s engineer discovered a fuel tank had been punctured by enemy flak. Short the fuel necessary to return to base, Fraiser’s crew narrowly skirted death, landing last-minute on an Allied base.
“We got across The Alps and fortunately found a fighter aircraft belonging to the Allies,” he said. “We took a short runway, we put that plane down and we all got out, thank the Lord.”
Fraiser said this first mission showed him what to expect from future flights.
“During the time that the 15th Air Force was operating in Italy, they sent us 3,544 B-24s,” Fraiser said. “Of those B-24s, we lost in combat 1,776 planes.”
Fraiser credits his survival to the skill of his pilot.
“He never lost a passenger and he never lost a plane,” Fraiser said.
Returning from what he described as his worst combat experience, Fraiser said he and his fellow crewmen never wavered from their faith in the pilot’s ability to bring them home. Fraiser said after losing two engines and their landing gear under fire, the pilot said the men could use their parachutes to save themselves while he tried to land the plane on a dirt road.
“I said, ‘You’re going to have one passenger,’ and the rest of them said the same thing,” he said. “My pilot brought that plane in on that dirt strip.”
Fraiser said that is just the way they operated.
“Crews stay together,” he said.
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