Frank Dolsen was born in Pontiac, Michigan in February 1921. His family moved to Lockhaven Country Club [Annotator's Note: om Godfrey, Illinois] during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945] so his father could work as a greens keeper. He lived right across from the fifteenth green hole where he and his brother golfed from their back porch. Dolsen grew up with four brothers and one sister. They all attended Scotch Elementary School [Annotator's Note: in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan]. Dolsen first heard the news about the Pearl Harbor attack [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] on the car radio while he was returning home from visiting his two older brothers at Selfridge Field [Annotator's Note: now Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, Michigan]. He further discussed the news at work the next day. He worked in the engineering laboratory for the Johansson gauge [Annotator's Note: a device created by a Swedish company famous for its precision measuring instruments] at Ford Motor Company [Annotator's Note: in Dearborn, Michigan]. The news came as a shock to him and his family. He dropped out of school to help his mother on their family farm. His two brothers had already taken jobs at nearby factories. Not long after the United States declared war, Dolsen was drafted into service and took the Air Force examination. After some impediments, he was sent to Jefferson Barrack in St. Louis [Annotator's Note: Jefferson Barracks Military Post in Lemay, Missouri]. Dolsen felt compelled to join the Air Force because his two older brothers were already in that branch of service. His younger brother signed up for the Army infantry while Dolsen was at Jefferson Barracks. His youngest brother also wanted to join the service. He tried to enlist in the Air Force but was declined because due medical reasons. His youngest brother then enlisted in the Canadian Air Force, but was sent home a few weeks later, again, due to medical reasons.

After enlisting in the Army Air Corps, Frank Dolsen was sent to Jefferson Barrack in St. Louis, Missouri [Annotator's Note: Jefferson Barracks Military Post in Lemay, Missouri] for basic training. In August 1942, about a month into training, he volunteered to go to Las Vegas [Annotator's Note: Las Vegas, Nevada] gunnery school. He took a train out West with some other guys that were in basic training with him. When they got off the train, they were packed into some trucks that took them to the air base. He attended ground school to learn about different weapons and how to assemble and disassemble them. After about a week of gunnery school, they were able to fly in AT-6s [Annotator's Note: North American AT-6 Texan advanced trainer aircraft] to train on a 30-calliber machine gun [Annotator's Note: Browning ANM2 .30 caliber machine gun]. They practiced aiming with tow targets and color-coded ammunition. He was required to have 300 hits on his target to complete his training. After his gun training, Dolsen was sent to Salt Lake City [Annotator's Note: Salt Lake City, Utah] to wait for his assignment. While there, Dolsen volunteered to go into radio school and learned how to operate radios and understand Morse Code [Annotator's Note: a method of telecommunication encoding characters in a system of dots and dashes]. During this time, the Army had quarantined his barracks because of a spinal meningitis [Annotator's Note: inflammation of brain and spinal cord membranes typically caused by an infection] outbreak. [Annotator's Note: Interview is interrupted 0:21:037.000. Video break at 0:21:43.000.] Dolsen was not infected by the outbreak and eventually was let out of the quarantine so he could continue radio school. He was selected with twelve other men to go to Boise, Idaho to join a crew as a radio operator. Dolsen met his pilot, Sumner Reeder [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Major Sumner H. Reeder] and was given a tour of the B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. He volunteered to sit in the ball turret because none of the other guys wanted to get in it. He learned how to operate the guns in the ball turret position, how to swirl the ball around, and how to get in and out of it. Everything was mechanized, but also could be maneuvered manually.

Frank Dolsen, volunteered for the Army Air Corps, and trained in Boise, Idaho with his crew [Annotator's Note: 349th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force] as a ball turret gunner and radio operator. His crew was given orders to Wendover Field, Utah and Sioux City, Iowa. While at Wendover Field, he and his crew lived in tarpaper shacks which was bad compared to the two-story barracks in Boise, Idaho. His co-pilot was sent to Louisiana for more flying time and ended up dying in an accident. Dolsen thought highly of his pilot, Reeder [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Major Sumner H. Reeder]. Reeder liked to show his authority sometimes so he and Dolsen got into it a couple of times while they were in England. After the crew finished training in Sioux City, they were sent to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] for sub patrol out in the Pacific. The Japanese submarines were sneaking around, and their mission was to identify the enemy sub and drop bombs on them. Dolsen liked all the guys in his crew, and they listened well. After the quick trip in San Francisco, his crew was sent back to Sioux City for more practice missions in B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. A pilot by the name of Bill Flesh [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces 1st Lieutenant William Richard Flesh] took Dolsen's crew on a scary nosedive during a practice mission. The crew did not like it at all, but Flesh told the crew that they needed to know how to get out of situations like that when they would be deployed. Dolsen eventually flew with Bill Flesh on his last missions in Europe. Dolsen and his friend, Brewster [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Staff Sergeant Connor Daniel Brewster], often went to the Rainbow Club for entertainment while they were stationed in Salt Lake City.

Frank Dolsen was deployed overseas with his crew [Annotator's Note: 349th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force] from Kearney, Nebraska. At the same time, the Army switched out their commanders. The 100th Bombardment Group was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Darr Alkire [Annotator's Note: US Army Colonel Darr H. Alkire] and was replaced right as the group was deployed overseas. Dolsen's pilot was given a number which was attached to a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] plane. This was the plane Dolsen, and his crew were assigned to for their overseas deployment. Dolsen had trained in the E model B-17s, but his crew was assigned the F model. The difference between the models was the shape of the nose [Annotator's Note: Interviewer pauses interview. Video break 0:56:33.000]. Dolsen's crew took off and stopped in Bangor, Maine. While there, he was given a physical and a dentist removed his wisdom teeth. The next day they flew to northern Quebec near Gander Lake [Annotator's Note: in Canada]. During the trip, Dolsen sat in the ball turret to view the landscape. At one point they had to slow down to let a C-47 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain] carrying President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] get ahead. Dolsen and his crew then flew to Scotland, then London [Annotator's Note: London, England], and landed at Thorpe Abbott airfield [Annotator's Note: Station 139 in Thorpe Abbotts, England] in England. When Dolson was in London, he saw a lot of craters from the Spitfire [Annotator's Note: Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft]. The city was flooded with American personnel. At Thorpe Abbotts, he lived with nine other men. There was an air raid shelter at the base as well. The weather was cold and damp. There were some locals nearby that washed clothes for the airmen. There was a short supply of soap and chocolate. Dolsen gave the woman who washed his clothes some soap and gave kids chocolate. During his down time at the base, Dolsen often hung around in the hangar or took a bicycle to tour the countryside.

Frank Dolsen's [Annotator's Note: with the 349th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force] first combat mission was to the French coast near La Pallice [Annotator's Note: La Pallice, France]. As they came close to the target, flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] commenced, and a few fighter pilots tried to take a shot at them. On Dolsen's second mission, 18 airplanes were lost on their trip to Münster [Annotator's Note: Münster, Germany]. The casualty rate for the 8th Air Force was very high. Dolsen found out when he was going on a mission when someone woke him up at three in the morning. The pilots went to a briefing, while the crew would prepare the airplane. The radiomen and the navigators went to another room for briefing. Most of the time, the crew did not know about the mission until after the pilots were giving a briefing. Maps of Europe were pinned up with arrows pointing in all different directions. They were warned that 10 to 15 German fighters would be waiting for them at the Allies' rendezvous point. Throughout his missions, Dolsen hit many enemy fighter planes, but never received a kill. On his third mission, he received flak on the left side of the ball turret, however his was not hit. Dolsen did not feel exposed being in the ball turret, but he was aware of the dangers of the location.

Frank Dolsen [Annotator's Note: with the 349th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force] went on a mission to Stuttgart [Annotator's Note: Stuttgart, Germany]. As they come near their target area, the bombardier took control at the IP [[Annotator's Note: Initial Point; well-defined point used as starting point for the bomb run]. The plane went into an automatic mode while the bombardier selected the bombs to be dropped on the target site. Soon they were engaged with the German fighters and heavy flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire]. A few of his crewmen including his pilot, Reeder [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Major Sumner H. Reeder], and navigator, Engel [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces 1st Lieutenant Russell W. Engel], were injured on the mission. A 20mm shell went through the top of their plane and hit an oxygen tank and wounded the Engel's eye. The crew picked him up and laid him on the flight deck after they left the target area. Dolsen, and another crewman, put the navigator's eye back in his eye socket and covered his eye with a patch to hold it in. The crew discussed very briefly about what to do next. They considered landing immediately, but ultimately, they all agreed it was best to return to base in England. The flight was long and very cold. They also met some more resistance near the Rhine [Annotator's Note: Rhine River, Germany] but were able to get through safely. When they landed, Engel was taken off the plane and attended to medically. He inevitably lost sight in his damaged eye. Reeder had been wounded in his side but was able to make a recovery. The rest of the crew were left unscathed.

Frank Dolsen [Annotator's Note: with the 349th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force] went on a mission to Regensburg [Annotator's Note: Regensburg, Germany]. After a week of rest for his crew and the officers, they were given a new mission with one change. The crew received a new pilot. They received the flight strategy where they would enter over southern France where the Danube River turns west and head towards Munich [Annotator's Note: Munich, Germany] and then head over to Regensburg. They were warned that they would meet a lot of fighters and anti-aircraft. After they hit their targets in Regensburg, they headed towards Sweden and turned south for the Mediterranean. Dolsen only thought about the people in Hamburg [Annotator's Note: Hamburg, Germany] after a bombing because the city was bombed for 24 straight hours and the wind was so bad, it created a firestorm [Annotator's Note: Video break at 1:48:01.000].

Frank Dolsen [Annotator's Note: with the 349th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force] went on a mission to Gelsenkirchen [Annotator's Note: Gelsenkirchen, Germany]. The target on their mission was a synthetic fuel factory. Since they were close to Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin Germany] they were met by German fighters. Dolsen and his crew were able to withstand the flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] as they headed toward the target. The bombardier was able to hit the target and when they circled back to hit the target again, they were hit hard. They continued on flying over Belgium and France coming in contact with heavy flak. The turret got hit and there was a gaping hole with fire, so Dolsen had to move over. He hit his head. Then the plane was hit in the wing, and then the engine. The pilot told the crew to bail out. As they opened the bay doors, they saw a German fighter plane shooting in their direction. All the crewmen began bailing out and Dolsen was one of the last crewmen to jump out. When he opened his parachute, it jerked his legs forward swinging his boots loose.

Frank Dolsen [Annotator's Note: with the 349th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force] bailed out of his plane. When he landed, his parachute pulled him in all sorts of directions. As soon as he was free from his parachute, Dolsen tried to get some civilians to hide him in an old shed, but the Germans immediately captured him. He walked down a paved road for a while and saw some Free French [Annotator's Note: French Forces of the Interior or Forces françaises de l'Intérieur; French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War 2] hiding in the marshes, so Dolsen dropped some money for them without the German guard seeing. They reach a German outpost where he saw more guards. [Annotator's Note: phone rings 2:14:55.000. Video break 2:15:00.000.] Dolsen was sent to a room with a German on the phone. Not long after being there with the German, Dolsen's tail gunner, Marasco [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Staff Sergeant James Marasco], was brought into the room too. Then German guards came in and dropped a parachute at their feet asking where their other crewmen were located. Dolsen and Marasco knew that it was their crewmate, Brewster's [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Staff Sergeant Connor Daniel Brewster], parachute, but did not know what happened to him. After they were interrogated, Dolsen and Marasco were put in the back of the truck with their navigator and bombardier. The bombardier was wounded in the back and ankle and complained, which bothered the navigator. They arrived at a train track and were loaded up on one of the cars. When the train stopped, they were forced out and began walking down a cobblestone road until they reached a stone fence. They were led into a large yard with stone fences all around the perimeter. Dolsen thought to himself that he would not have a chance to escape. All the prisoners were taken into an old prison building where the Germans led them to a cell where he remained with other airmen that were captured from another airplane.

Frank Dolsen, [Annotator's Note: with the 349th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force] captured by the Germans and placed in a prison cell, found a board, and created a checkerboard out of it to play checkers with his fellow prison mates. He remained in the prison for about two weeks and during this time, prison guards came in to check on them. At one point, Dolsen and others were taken somewhere in Frankfurt [Annotator's Note: Frankfurt, Germany] by way of a truck and were interrogated at an interrogation center. The Germans asked what kind of bombs the Americans had, but Dolsen only gave him his name, rank, and serial number. He was interrogated by a German major who spoke English well. The major tried to compel Dolsen to complete a questionnaire and sign it at the bottom. Dolsen refused to answer the questions and printed his name at the bottom which the German did not accept. After several attempts, Dolsen finally scribbled a signature. He was interrogated for about three weeks, and he never gave them any information except his name, rank, and serial number. The serial number gave away where servicemen's' hometowns were located which helped the Germans gather personal information [Annotator's Note: Interviewer pauses interview at 2:43:51.000].

Frank Dolsen, [Annotator's Note: with the 349th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force] became a prisoner of war and was sent to Stalag 17-B [Annotator's Note: in Krems, Austria] after being captured by the Germans. The camp as being very big with several buildings on site. He was assigned to building 40-0-17-A with about 380 other prisoners. The conditions of the camp were bare, with twenty men in each room. Prisoners slept on barracks that were four-tier. Dolsen chose a top bunk. The German guards did not associate with the prisoners. They were everywhere but they kept to themselves except for telling the prisoners their schedules for the day. They started every morning with breakfast. Some of the details that prisoners were assigned to were bringing in hot water to the kitchen, sweeping floors, and cleaning the latrines. There was a special room with spigots so prisoners could take showers. Over 380 prisoners had to share one shower room. They used a fire to heat the water. The prisoners received Red Cross parcels about once a month that included salt, coffee, D-bars [Annotator's Note: Army Field Ration D; chocolate bar intended as snack food], and a package of C-rations [Annotator's Note: prepared and canned wet combat food], and can of margarine. The prisoners often starved because the Germans did not feed them well. Dolsen ate potatoes, rutabaga, and sometimes horse meat. [Annotator's Note: Interview is interrupted at 2:57:14.000.] As a prisoner, Dolsen missed turning on the radio to listen to his favorite radio station. Sometime the Germans played classical music through speakers. To keep themselves busy, prisoners often play baseball. Dolsen never thought about escaping because there was no good opportunity and there were posts with search lights and machine guns at all corners of the camp. He was given four postcards a month that he could send home to his family to keep in touch. Prisoners were able to keep up with the goings of the war because a technician built a radio out of different materials. He was able to get news from London [Annotator's Note: London, England]. Another prisoner would write down the news broadcast and then share it with the rest of the prisoners. There were a couple of doctors in the prison camp that attended to prisoners. One of the doctors was able to get special chemicals for a fellow prisoner to print pictures.

Frank Dolsen, [Annotator's Note: with the 349th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force] became a prisoner of war [Annotator's Note: and was sent to Stalag 17-B in Krems, Austria] after being captured by the Germans. The prisoners heard news that there was an invasion on the French coast [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], which gave many of them hope that liberation was coming soon. They knew war was coming to an end when they saw flashes of artillery coming from the East during nighttime, and airplanes were seen circling and bombing nearby railroads. Dolsen and other prisoners also witnessed two German fighter planes crash. They began to cheer. Not long after, the German guards opened the gates to the prison and told the prisoners that they were free to leave after roll call. Eight groups of five hundred men walked out. Dolsen was the first group out of the camp. [Annotator's Note: Dolsen breaks to eat and drink at 3:17:09.000.] Even though the war was not yet over, the German camp commander was convinced to let out the prisoners and surrender to the Americans versus waiting for the Russians to invade and control the area. The prisoners met Patton's Army [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] at the Enz River in southern France about a month after walking out of camp. They were trying to find shelter in the Black Forest when American soldiers and a tank came across them. The American soldiers thought they were a German encampment, but quickly learned they were Air Force personnel. Once the prisoners were secured with Patton's Army, Dolsen finally felt free. The prisoners were taken to a battery factory in Bernau, Germany to get shelter from the rainy weather. After about five days, the prisoners were transported by truck to an air force base in Pakens, Germany for another four days.

Frank Dolsen, [Annotator's Note: a prisoner of war in Germany] was liberated by Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.]. Dolsen and the rest of the prisoners were sent to Paris, France by C-46 [Annotator's Note: Curtiss C-46 Commando transport aircraft] and C-47 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft] planes. The pilots circled around the Eiffel Tower and then landed at Camp Lucky Strike [Annotator's Note: one of the transit and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands; Lucky Strike was near Le Havre, France]. He rested at the camp for a while and reunited with a friend from home. They never found out what happen to their radioman, Brewster [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Staff Sergeant Connor Daniel Brewster], but he assumed he died from the bail out of their plane. Dolsen was sent back to the United States and was transferred from a camp in Illinois to a camp in Florida for 60 days. He was discharged in 1945 as a staff sergeant. Dolsen had to bum rides and flights to get back home after being discharged. On his flight to Detroit [Annotator's Note: Detroit, Michigan], gas was leaking from the wing of the plane, so they had to return and fix the fuel cap. His parents met him at the base that he landed at in Detroit. Dolsen came into possession of a camera while he was a prisoner and was able to photograph some of his war experiences.