Frank L Luschen

Col Frank Leslie Luschen was born in Stapleton, Nebraska to Fred & Elizabeth Luschen however, his family soon moved to Seattle.  Frank was attending the University of Washington when the US military began to call men in preparation for what would become WWII.  He enlisted in 1940 when he was attracted to an offer from the Army Air Force in response to their growing need for pilots.  According to Col. Luschen, his decision to enlist was due to a combination of his desire to fly and also to see the world at government expense. After graduating from boot camp in Tacoma, Washington, he was quickly transferred to San Antonio for B18 flight training.  His first assignment was Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage Alaska where he began flying bombing missions against the Japanese as they invaded the Aleutian Islands moving toward the US mainland.  On one mission, his plane was badly shot up and he was forced to ditch the plane doing a belly landing on the beach.  Fortunately, he was able to walk away from the crash and fly for many more years.As the war progressed, Frank was re-trained and flew many missions in the B17 aircraft.   Among his class of 217 that graduated from flying school were four of a famous group of pilot friends who would later be known as the Doolittle Raiders. In later years however, he would also fly the B24, B29, B36 and the B52.  He was fond of saying that if it had wings, he flew it.  Heavy bombers were definitely his specialty and he had many stories about the missions he flew as Commander of the 9th Bomb Group.  The book “History of the 9th Bomb Group” documents the formation and missions of this group and their importance to the freedom of our country.In his thirty years of service, Frank and his family would be stationed at 20 air bases as he commanded forces in the US, Puerto Rico, Tinian Island in the Marianas and Germany.  He earned a great number of medals including the Presidential Citation*, the Distinguished Flying Cross and many more.  His group was a vital force in the capture of Iwo Jima and the victory over Japan.  While he was stationed on Tinian Island, one of the other B29 pilots, Paul Tibbets, flew the Enola Gay which dropped the atomic bomb on Japan.  Frank was ultimately transferred to the Pentagon under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara where he served four years managing European air base operation.  He played an integral role in the 1949 mission which became known as the Berlin Airlift.During his retirement years, Frank and his wife Kathryn Louise Dickinson would serve as Chaplains at MacDougall Correctional Institute in South Carolina.  They were very happily married for 66 years until her death in 2010.  Since that time, he has been living with his daughter Linda Kay Jones and her husband Gary at Smith Mountain Lake in VA.  Professional golf has been his lifelong passion and there was seldom a tournament on television that did not find him glued to the Sports Channel. Frank leaves his only daughter Linda Kay and her husband Gary, four grandchildren (Tommy Gore in Florida, Leslie Clegg in Charlotte, NC, Luschen Gore in Charlotte, NC , Kara Miller in Charleston, SC) and three step grandchildren (Gary Jones, Jr in Londonderry, NH, Susan Edwards in Londonderry, NH and Brad Jones in Bedford, VA) and many great grandchildren.We will sincerely miss Frank now that he has taken his final flight into the wild blue yonder and has landed safely on the only airstrip made of pure gold.  Well done, good and faithful servant.   He will join his wife at Arlington National Cemetery July 29th,2016 at 11:00 am for his final duty station until the second coming of our Lord.