Paul Frommer
Bio
Paul Frommer grew up in Chicago, Illinois and attended college in Bloomington, Illinois. He volunteered to join the Air Force in 1952 since many of his friends had been drafted despite their being in college with exempt status. As a First Lieutenant and navigator for the 307th Bomb Wing, he went on daily missions into Korea starting in 1953. From October 1953 through 1954, he would go on the same bombing missions into North Korea as his fellow airmen did before the armistice. The only difference was that he didn’t drop the bombs and in the end, they protected the different Air Defense Zones across Korea.
Video Clips
A Love of Planes
Paul Frommer describes his early life and love of watching planes and building models with his father. It was this love that led him to enlist in the Air Force even though he was in college and supposedly exempt from the draft. He recalls thinking he didn't want to be a foot soldier so enlisting in the Air Force was the best option for him.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0XxNWM-3P0&start=19&end=140
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https://koreanwarlegacy.org/interviews/paul-frommer#clip-1
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Air Force Yearbook
Paul Frommer recounts how he helped create the first yearbook for Air Force members that were not pilots at Ellington Air Force Base. He explains that his superiors were very impressed with the final edition. He displays the cartoons, pictures, and addresses that filled his yearbook which help him remember exciting events on the military base.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0XxNWM-3P0&start=422&end=535
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https://koreanwarlegacy.org/interviews/paul-frommer#clip-2
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Missions in Korea after the armistice
Paul Frommer explains that his missions as a navigator were to continue the same flight patterns as the Air Force pilots before him. He describes these as practice exercises and intelligence-gathering missions that took place from 1953 through 1954. He explains that the patterns were exactly the same; however, they were no longer dropping bombs.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0XxNWM-3P0&start=686&end=770
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https://koreanwarlegacy.org/interviews/paul-frommer#clip-3
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