Frank Halm was born June 8, 1922, in Whittier, California. He lived on the family’s avocado ranch until he graduated from Fullerton Union High School in 1940. When the war broke out, he applied for training as an Aviation Cadet, Army Air Force and enlisted in June of 1942. After flight training, Frank received his pilot’s wings and was commissioned on December 5, 1943. After B-17 transition school he was assigned a crew and they were sent to England in July of 1944 for service with the 94th Bomb Group.
Frank’s crew flew thirty missions before being selected for lead crew. Their last twenty missions were flown as formation leader. As a result of his lead crew experience, he was promoted to captain in January 1945, thirteen months after being commissioned. He was never shot down, but his aircraft was badly damaged once and forced to land in France. One of his crew members received a Purple Heart. Frank’s wartime decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with Four Clusters.
After the war, Frank spent nine months in southern France, involved in photographing the North African coast.
Frank’s next assignment took him to Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., for five years as an instructor pilot and an operations staff officer. He began work toward his bachelor’s degree at the University of Maryland off-campus program at Bolling.
He was promoted to major, and in 1951 was assigned to USAF Europe Headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany. While an operations staff officer there, Frank made flights to Moscow and other European capitals.
Upon his return to the United States in 1955, Frank was assigned to the University of Maryland at College Park to complete his bachelor’s degree program. In 1956, Frank was reassigned as an assistant secretary in the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon. He served here for two years, then was transferred for a two-year stint with USAF headquarters, also in the Pentagon. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1959 and applied for graduate school. He earned his master’s in business administration from George Washington University in 1961.
Following graduate school, Frank was assigned to Denver’s Lowry Air Force Base as a missile site commander in the new Titan I system still being built, where he served in various positions. In 1965, he was assigned to Headquarters Strategic Air Command and promoted to colonel.
After three years, he applied for an Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps job and was delighted to be assigned to Oregon State University. Frank and his wife Dottie arrived in Corvallis in 1968. Frank was rated command pilot, and while at OSU he was Professor of Aerospace Studies and the head of the Air Force ROTC program. He joined the Corvallis Rotary Club in 1968. Colonel Frank Niles Halm died Sept. 19, 2014 in Corvallis at the age of 92.