Frank Hilliard was born in May 1923 in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was always an aircraft enthusiast and took his first plane ride in an old trimotor [Annotator's Note: Ford Trimotor, also called Tin Goose, American transport aircraft]. He had two brothers and two sisters growing up. His father was a contractor with a stone company that his father owned during the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. That fell through. They moved to Saline County, Arkansas and lived there until his father was asked to take over a John Deere [Annotator's Note: brand name of Deere & Company] dealership in Russellville [Annotator's Note: Russellville, Arkansas]. He was there when the war broke out. Hilliard had gone to the movies and when he got home, his father told him the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. That had an effect on all of their businesses and what they were going to do from then on. He joined the Air Force reserves in Russellville. He learned to fly and wanted to go in as a pilot. He washed out because he was too adventurous. He was flying over a farm field one day, stalled, and crashed. He was offered to go to mechanics school at Sheppard Field [Annotator's Note: now Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita County, Texas] and then to Kansas City, Missouri. After that he went to Lincoln, Nebraska and went through instrument specialist school. He went to an overseas replacement center in Salt Lake City [Annotator's Note: Salt Lake City, Utah]. Awaiting assignment overseas, he was told he was eligible for Norden bombsight [Annotator's Note: Norden Mk. XV tachometric bombsight] and autopilot school. He then went to Denver, Colorado, which was wonderful. He finished school there, learning how to inspect the Norden. He felt privileged because it was a secret thing used on B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] and B-24s [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber].

There were French soldiers in Denver [Annotator's Note: Denver, Colorado] where Frank Hilliard was in line for immunization shots. At the dispensary, Hilliard told some guys to get on each side of him and drag him down the hill backwards. They scared the heck out of the French soldiers who did not want to get their shots then. Hilliard got orders to Ardmore, Oklahoma and the 5th Air Force to do maintenance on the Norden bombsights [Annotator's Note: Norden Mk. XV tachometric bombsight]. He was there for three years working on them. Ardmore was in the Arbuckle Mountains. There was a park called Turner Falls there where he spent his off-duty hours. He flew occasionally on some of the planes. He had never flown in a B-26 [Annotator's Note: Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber] and asked a pilot if he could go along. He said yes. That was the chase plane for the B-17 crew that would fire their cameras in place of bullets at the Marauder. It was fun but after a while, a non-flying guy does not take it well. They saw he was getting sick and landed. That was a fast plane, but they called it a widow-maker [Annotator's Note: nickname for planes that tend to crash often]. One night he was on duty and some P-61s were there [Annotator's Note: Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter aircraft]. The engine was behind the pilot. They had pulled the engine out, which allowed the prop to turn. It was running at high speed. Hilliard called the officer of the day and told him it could chop somebody's head off. A MP [Annotator's Note: military police] came down and guarded it because they could not stop it from turning.

Frank Hilliard [Annotator's Note: with the 5th Air Force] enjoyed his stay at Ardmore [Annotator's Note: Ardmore, Oklahoma]. He was privileged and was not bothered because had Secret clearance and could come and go as he pleased. He kept up with the war. After the base was shut down, he was sent to Oklahoma City [Annotator's Note: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma] and waited to go home. He was there when the war ended in both Europe and Japan. They knew the war would end in Japan, but they were enthused about it. He joined the reserves. He was called up again and was sent to Biloxi [Annotator's Note: Biloxi, Mississippi]. His stay there was not long as they did not have facilities for married G.I.s [Annotator's Note: government issue; also, a slang term for an American soldier]. Hilliard had a good deal in the service. It was nothing like he thought it would be. He was lucky and had a lot of privileges. He used the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] and went to the University of Arkansas Tech [Annotator's Note: Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Arkansas]. He started flying again. Later on, he bought his own plane and flew it out of Slidell [Annotator's Note: Slidell, Louisiana]. He has had an adventurous life.