Frank Ragazzi was born in May 1920 in New York City, New York, one of two surviving children of a Metropolitan Opera performer. His father was a foreign car mechanic, and when Ragazzi was 11 months old, his father sold his business in the city and moved the family to New Jersey where they owned and operated a resort and farm. Ragazzi worked during his high school years at a produce market, then for a chemical corporation that produced pharmaceuticals for the military. When he graduated from high school in 1938, he took full-time employment with the chemical company. Ragazzi was washing his car and listening to its radio when the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] was announced. He wanted to join the war effort as a fighter pilot right away, but he didn't meet the educational requirements at that time, and his employer informed him that he was already performing an "essential service" at the chemical company, making him eligible for deferment. But he tested for the Army Air Corp and passed and, ignoring the displeasure of many, he volunteered in 1942, and was sworn in as a buck private. The educational requirements had been lowered, and in January 1943 he was a called up as an Air Corps cadet. Ragazzi left for basic training in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he lived in old hotels while he trained. He continued to the University of Vermont [Annotator's Note: The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College in Burlington, Vermont], and in six months he achieved the equivalent of two years of college. From there he went to Nashville, Tennessee for classification and qualified for any of the positions [Annotator's Note: navigator, bombardier and pilot]. He chose to be a pilot.

Never having been in an airplane, Frank Ragazzi took his first ride in a Piper Cub [Annotator's Note: Piper J-3 Cub light observation aircraft] at the University of Vermont [Annotator's Note: The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College in Burlington, Vermont] during nine hours of flight instruction there. He began pilot training with ground school, then at Harris Army Airfield at Cape Girardeau, Missouri he trained in the PT-23 [Annotator’s Note: Fairchild Aviation PT-23 primary trainer aircraft]. Flying came easy to him, Ragazzi said, and after two-and-a-half hours of flying with an instructor, he flew solo. Afterward, he moved to the airfield at Malden, Missouri for training in BT-13s [Annotator's Note: Vultee BT-13 Valiant basic trainer aircraft; also known as the Vultee Vibrator], and on to advanced flight training in Multi, Georgia where he flew AT-6s [Annotator's Note: North American Aviation AT-6 Texan advanced trainer aircraft]. He graduated as a second lieutenant, and got orders to report to Randolph Field [Annotator's Note: now Randolph Air Force Base, part of Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph in Universal City, Texas] in Texas to become an instructor. Ragazzi didn't like the assignment; he wanted to go overseas, so he did everything he could to discourage his certification, and "flunked." But after 30 days, he was sent to Shaw Field [Annotator's Note: now Shaw Air Force Base near Sumter, South Carolina], South Carolina, with orders to be an instructor. He worked at it for a couple of weeks, but while flying with a cadet, Ragazzi "split" into a traffic pattern, and was called before the colonel. Ragazzi restated his dissatisfaction with the assignment, and was reassigned to flight testing airplanes and scheduling testing.

After about two months of flight test scheduling, Frank Ragazzi was tasked with training five women service pilots. While familiarizing each of the girls with the auxiliary fields, he took out a 19 year old out in a plane that had just had its engine replaced. As he went through the testing steps, the engine blew up, scattering oil and scaring the young woman. When they safely landed, she commented on how "cool" he had been in the emergency, and Ragazzi responded that as a tester he had a plan for such events. In four months, Ragazzi had three emergency landings, and made the field in all but one, in which case he landed on the grass rather than the runway. Three of the five WASPs [Annotator's Note: Women Airforce Service Pilots] that Ragazzi trained had more flying time than he did, and Ragazzi said he "respected them as pilots." He explained that in all there were 1,102 WASPs and in his opinion, the Air Corps treated them "shabbily." Although he saluted them, they weren't officers, had no benefits, and when their service was terminated, they were sent home "with no money." They were finally recognized in 1977, and awarded the Medal of Honor. After working with the WASPs for a couple of months, Ragazzi "pulled a stupid stunt," and buzzed the control tower. The officer in charge flying safety put him up for a court martial. He had to see the colonel again, who said if he left immediately for Laredo, Texas and B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] training as a copilot, he might outrun the disciplinary papers. When he got to Laredo, he appealed to his new colonel to be a fighter pilot, and was again denied.

While training on the newest version of the B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] as a copilot, Frank Ragazzi encountered a nasty captain who, after a near crash that Ragazzi averted, became one of his good friends. Ragazzi went on to Maxwell Field [Annotator's Note: now Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base] in Montgomery, Alabama where he attended engineering school and flew as a flight engineer for 30 days. Upon completing that training, Ragazzi became a "first pilot" and moved on to Edwards Air Field [Annotator's Note: now Edwards Air Force Base in Edwards, California] in California, then Tonopah Air Field [Annotator's Note: later Tonopah Air Force Base in Nye County, Nevada] in Nevada. At Lemoore Field [Annotator's Note: Lemoore Army Air Field near Lemoore, California] in California, Ragazzi picked up his crew and trained for overseas combat for about four months. He noted that the aircraft were "always breaking down," and Ragazzi explained how it was "good training." At McChord Field [Annotator's Note: now McChord Air Force Base, part of Joint Base Lewis–McChord in Pierce County, Washington] in Washington State he was awaiting orders for departure to the South Seas when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. His orders were cancelled, and although Ragazzi said he knew the bombings were necessary, he always felt bad about killing innocent people.

Frank Ragazzi didn't like the way the Japanese acted or the way they treated prisoners, and he didn't like the Nazi Germans either. Ragazzi always stayed abreast of the status of the war in Europe and in the Pacific. Once, while he was taking exams in Atlantic City [Annotator's Note: Atlantic City, New Jersey], the base commander asked him the origin of his surname, and Ragazzi responded it was Italian. Then the officer asked him if he would obey if he were ordered to bomb the Vatican. Responding that he would follow orders, Ragazzi pointed out that the officer had a German surname, and America was at war with the Germans, too. The colonel "blew up," and ordered him out of his office, but didn't push the issue and Ragazzi heard no more about it. Throughout his career as an aviator, Ragazzi's favorite aircraft was the AT-6 [Annotator's Note: North American Aviation AT-6 Texan advanced trainer aircraft] because of its maneuverability. He was discharged from active service in November 1945, but entered the Reserves. Between 1950 and 1955 he was assigned to March Air Force Base [Annotator's Note: later March Air Force Base; now March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California] in San Francisco, California as a base operations officer, and flew every Wednesday just as though he was on active duty; mostly he was ferrying VIPs all over the country. He wasn't called up during the Korean Conflict [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 1950 to 1953]. Ragazzi stayed in the Reserves until 1980, when he retired with the rank of major.

Frank Ragazzi's decision to serve in the armed forces was influenced by the propaganda he saw at the movies. He would volunteer again if he were called upon, because he thinks America is the greatest country in the world. He didn't volunteer to fight in Korea [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 1950 to 1953] because he had three children at that time. World War 2 changed his life by taking him out of his hometown and into a wider world. He is proud of his service, and, lately, when he wears his World War 2 cap, he is acknowledged for his contributions, which he appreciates. He thinks it important that there are institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that the war be taught in schools, so that young people can understand what it means to be patriotic, and what this country and the flag mean. Ragazzi ends his interview with stories of his postwar flight experiences, and said he enjoyed his service with the Air Force.