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Interviewee
Valentini, Frank
Document Type
Oral History
Date of Interview
9-27-2002
Abstract
Frank Valentini was born 11 June 1919 in the Iron Range town of Chisholm, St. Louis County, Minnesota. One of eleven children of Italian immigrant parents, he grew up in Chisholm and graduated from high school there in 1937. Following high school Frank worked at a Civilian Conservation Corps camp in northern Minnesota (1937-39) and spent time as a steelworker in the Detroit suburb of Wyandotte, Michigan (1939-42). With the entry of the US into the war, Frank was drafted in July 1942 into the US Army Air Corps. After Basic Training, he received advanced schooling at Camp Crowder, Missouri, as a ground radio operator. In 1943 Frank was posted to the 14th Air Force and dispatched to a remote duty station near Kunming, in southwest China. Operating with a small group of Air Corps personnel, the unit's mission was to direct Allied aircraft towards enemy targets. Frank remained here until the end of the Pacific war in August 1945; in October of that year he returned to the US and was discharged with the rank of sergeant. Back in civilian life, Frank got married in 1947 (wife Patricia), and used GI Bill benefits to obtain a degree from St. Cloud Teachers College (1949). He taught school in Deer River, Minnesota, (1949-53) and Tower-Soudan, Minnesota, (1953-59) before returning to Chisholm in 1959. He then taught at Chisholm High School until his retirement in 1988. He was interviewed at his home in Chisholm.
Copyright
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced without the written permission of Concordia University Library or Thomas Saylor, Department of History, Concordia University, St. Paul.
Recommended Citation
Saylor, Thomas, "Oral History Project World War II Years, 1941-1946 - Frank Valentini" (2002). Oral History Project: World War II Years, 1941-1946. 154.
https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/oral-history_ww2/154
PDF Transcript of Interview with Frank Valentini