#LT Richard F Fralick, USNR (1954-1964 )
Fralick	Nickname: Dick Branch: USNR Commission: AOC 1955 Pre-Flight: Navcad 28-54 Wings Year: 1956 Active Years: 1954-1964 Reserves:  Mil Retirement: 1964 Last Location: NC	Assignments: Whiting Pax River	Highlights: See my long biography.
— Dick Fralick February 5, 2007

Members May Contact Other Members by Clicking Here

LT Richard F Fralick USNR 1954-1964

If there hadn't been a draft, I would have followed a career in journalism after getting my BA at Penn State in May 1954. I think I'll always be a civilian at heart. But I was enticed into naval aviation and suddenly found myself with nearly 50 other guys in Navcad Pre-Flight Class 28-54 at NAS Pensacola, FL, in July. Frankly, I didn't know what I was doing there, or what was in store for us. But it turned into a wonderful experience that I've treasured for more than 50 years.

After graduation in November, we were put into the training pipeline at Whiting Field. I soloed on Valentines Day 1955, then began moving quickly through Basic Flight Training. On arrival at Corpus Christi, TX, in September, I asked for advanced training in AD Skyraiders at Cabaniss Field. At about the same time, my AOC commission came through to give me a taste of being a student officer. I received my wings in January 1956, and was sent back to the Basic Training Command as a flight instructor. I checked in for instructor training on Valentines Day, just one year from the day I soloed.

Why anyone would send fledgling ex-students with no fleet experience to be flight instructors is incomprehensible. But — to my knowledge — three of us from Class 28-54 were selected. Norm Davis and I were made primary instructors at Whiting Field, and Gail Gibbon taught formation flying. Apparently, someone knew what he was doing because we all were successful instructors. I was also tapped to be the assistant service information officer for Whiting. Norm and I had a bachelor trailer in Milton (near Whiting) until Norm volunteered for a naval research project in Antarctica.

I was very lucky as an instructor. The Navy was finally retiring the SNJ workhorse after almost two decades. So I got to teach Primary and Formation in SNJs, Primary in T34s, and Radio Instruments in T28s. It was almost like going through training all over again. I had one accident with a Primary student when our SNJ lost power after taking off from a practice landing field. We followed procedure and put the plane into a forest at the end of the runway. Despite ripping off both wings and digging the nose deeply into the ground, the student and I both came away nearly unscathed. Fortunately, the accident board found a mechanical failure.

By fall of 1957, the Navy was cutting back on personnel and I received an early out. So I went back to journalism graduate school at Penn State on the GI Bill. My first professional job was on the rewrite desk at the Daily Messenger in Homestead, PA, in January 1958. By March I was promoted to reporter, and in May I was made editor. After two years, I left to become a reporter and radio wire desk man for United Press International in Pittsburgh.

But I learned what journalism schools don't teach: working journalists are notoriously poorly paid. So I asked to return to the Navy. In May 1961, I reported to the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River, MD, as public information officer. I handled press relations, the base newspaper, and the annual air show. In addition, I was disaster control officer, top-secret communications board member, defense counsel on courts martial, and prosecutor for administrative discharges.

It was a busy time at Pax River. The space program had everyone's attention, and four of the original seven astronauts were Naval Test Pilots at Pax River. So when one of them was to be launched, the press descended on us for background and interviews with acquaintances. We also had some spectacular crashes, introduction of the P3A Orion ASW aircraft, the largest Naval Air Show on the East Coast with the Blue Angels, and numerous boy scout and civil air patrol visits.

As disaster control officer, I was responsible for getting the Center ready in case of attack. So I applied for the Army's ABC Warfare School at Fort McClellan, AL. While learning how to cope with bombs, bugs and poison gas, I met a base legal secretary who turned me on. Sallie and I were married in December 1961, and returned to Pax River just in time for the Cuban Missile Crisis, which scared everyone silly. It makes me very sympathetic with Homeland Security people who have the impossible job of protecting us against natural and man-made disasters.

Sallie was a complete triumph at Pax River. When the JAG office learned that she was a military legal secretary, they made every possible inducement to work for them. She became far more popular around Admin than I was. It was almost like being married to a movie star. Now she's more Navy than I ever was. Sallie's six-year-old son from a previous marriage also gave me an instant family, which is still close to this day.

In November 1963 (about the time of President Kennedy's assassination), I began having intestinal problems. They ran me through tests without result at the base clinic, so I checked into Bethesda Naval Hospital. My problem was quickly diagnosed as ulcerative colitus, an incurable intestinal disease. In April 1964, I was given a disability retirement.

So the Fralick family moved to Washington where I thought I might make a living doing public relations — something with more money than newspaper work. Over the next eight years, I did PR and publications for Washington National Cathedral, the National Recreation and Park Association, and the National Chamber of Commerce. Then, in an attempt to make more money, I became a lobbyist for the National Hearing Aid Society.

Meanwhile, Sallie again outdid me. She worked for the Army sending enlisted specialists to Vietnam; with a special Defense Department group developing 'McNamara's Wall,' the passive electronic surveillance of the Ho Chi Minh trail; and then with the legal office of the Secretary of Defense. She was secretary for the lawyer who took John Dean's job at the White House after Watergate. She didn't go with him. About that time, her arthritus made secretarial work impossible, and she was given a civil service disability retirement.

After 12 years in Washington — through assassinations, racial unrest, Vietnam protests, and Watergate — we decided to get out. In 1976 we bought a small weekly newspaper in North Carolina. For five years we kept our heads above water, but at a physical price for me. My ulcerative colitus was making it difficult for me to work, so I finally went for the only remedy — removal of my large intestine. At the time I weighed 128 lbs.

We closed the newspaper in 1981 and moved to Carlisle, PA, where I began looking for work again. Fortunately my condition improved almost immediately after the operation. I obtained a job with a consulting group designing the computerized maintenance system for the new Trident Atomic Submarines that were about to come on-line. My boss was Rudolph F. (Rudy) Falkenstein, who was an instructor at Whiting Field when I was there.

When the project wound down, I became communications director for the National Frozen Food Association and later for the American Meat Processors Association. In both jobs, I became very proficient at desktop publishing. But my wife and I had collected primitive antiques for years, and decided we really wanted to get into the antiques business. We did about 30 shows a year and opened a shop in Carlisle. To supplement our income, I started a bi-weekly specialty antiques newspaper with circulation in the southcentral Pennsylvania area. I did everything on the paper but run the press.

I also picked up a number of freelance publishing jobs producing brochures, newsletters, other newspapers, and even books. Probably my best project was producing an autobiography for a former ambassador. The author started out as a missionary in India, worked for the OSS in Burma during WWII, joined the State Department, served in post-war Japan, Indonesia, and the entire Pacific Rim; was involved in the Korean War negotiations; became President Kennedy's ambassador to Afghanistan; and finished his career as chief staff officer at the State Department. He started writing on a computer at the age of 85, and was 88 when we published his book.

Sallie and I didn't retire, we just tapered off what we were doing — closed the shop and newspaper, and wound down my publishing projects. About that time, I became president of the Pennsylvania Antique Dealers Association, which was about to disband. I propped up the remnants, wrote a new charter and bylaws, started several new projects, and jump-started it again.

That was my last occupational project, although I soon began designing and writing websites for the internet. In 2005, Sallie and I cut all ties with Pennsylvania and moved again to North Carolina. We now live in a retirement community near our son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren. I'm now physically well, except for occasional arthritic spells. Sallie has a lot of medical problems that keep us busy with doctors. But we are living quietly and happily in our new home, with no plans to make any future changes.

— Dick Fralick, February 5, 2007