[As recorded by David Frost (B, Victor)]
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Victor Paul Frost (A, Arthur) history as told by Vic himself [As recorded by David Frost (B, Victor)] |
WWII Starts
Richard (Victor’s fraternal twin brother) died in August, 1941 <<get actual date if possible>> at age 14. He had a summer job working for Hearst Mercantile, a large department/grocery store. He was working on a delivery truck, standing on the running board. The driver swerved to avoid another vehicle, skidded, and crushed Richard against a telephone pole.
Shortly thereafter, while still 14 years old, the US Government decided that gold wasn’t a high priority, and they shut down the gold mine in Lead, and sent miners all over the country for different war related mining. Vic’s dad Arthur was sent to North Carolina, and then Georgia, to help the Mica mines which were very inefficient. (Mica was used to make airplane instrument lenses, etc.). Vic wanted to go with him, but was initially told no. Eventually Vic prevailed, and he hitch hiked there.
At the end of his first day, he got to Sioux Falls, SD without any problem. The next day he got to Sioux City, IO. Looking for a way out of town the next day, he found a truck route, and got a trucker to take him to within about 100 miles of his Dad’s location in North Carolina. He then made the rest of the trip without incident. This probably made Vic feel rather confident about hitch hiking around the good ole USA.
Unfortunately, the return trip did not go as smoothly! He had several bad nights. One night a farmer let him off in the middle of nowhere. It was so dark he couldn’t even see the road. The only way he knew when he was leaving the road was when he felt/heard grass under his feet instead of the road. He was quite terrified at some points. At any rate, he made it home in one piece.
In 1943 Vic had just turned 16, and the Merchant Marines needed recruits. Vic asked his parents if he could enlist (it was legal for a 16 year old to enlist, but only if his parents gave their permission). Vic had been having trouble in school and just in general since the death of his twin brother, so his parents thought this might be a good thing for him, and his older brother Joe was also just signing up with the Merchant Marines, and they gave their permission.
Jack was already in the Army Air Corps (the predecessor of the Airforce). He was a navigator on a bomber out of Italy. Jack went into intelligence after the war [OK, we all know the jokes about Army Intelligence!].
Vic went to bootcamp at Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn. He wanted to ship out in the worst way. However, things took some "guided" twists. When he was first there he was assigned to be the clerk for Henry Platt, the head psychiatrist. Vic gave all the new recruits the Army General Classification Test (AGCT). Henry liked Vic, and wanted to send him to radio officer cadet school. But Victor really wanted to ship out, and wasn’t sure radio training was something he was cut out for (he was self-conscious about having signed up before finishing high school). So, Henry sent him on a 2 week training voyage as a messmen (a grunt job, the kind he would get if he really shipped out). Vic found out that being a grunt at sea wasn’t such a great thing!
Vic came back from the training tour, and his unit had just shipped out. [Sounds like Henry was a kind, and wiley guy!] Vic told Henry, "You win, I’ll go to cadet school." So off Vic went to Hoffman Island, NY. Joe was already there. (They got an exception to the rule that you couldn’t have 2 siblings based in the same place.) Twice during the 6 week course Vic wanted to quit, but Joe talked him out of it both times (yeay Joe!). Vic graduated second in his class (says he worked real hard!). He was commissioned as a Warrant Officer. At 17 he was the youngest commissioned officer in the Maritime. Specifically, this was a commission in the Naval Reserve, which meant he didn’t get the benefits of the GI Bill - not a good thing.
At the time Joe, and then Vic, shipped out, about 40 - 50% of boats leaving the East Coast were being sunk by German U-Boats. Joe shipped out of the West Coast, and later Vic shipped out of San Francisco to the Philippines on a Liberty class cargo ship.
First they went to Letye. The Japanese were heavily bombing this island, as it was a major staging area for the US. They were never able to dock, and were sent to the Port of Cebu. Cebu was not being bombed, and they discharged some of their cargo.
They were then sent on to Puerto Princessa[sp?]. The Marines were actively fighting the Japs on the island, but they were able to dock. Vic and the ship’s Purser figured if they stayed along the beach they could pick up some valuable "cats eyes" shells. They crossed a peninsula, and got lost. It started to rain heavily, and they were heading into some heavy jungle that you couldn’t see more than a few feet into. They were totally exhausted and they realized they were in a part of the island held by the Japanese. The mud was so thick it sucked their shoes off, and they stopped to soak their feet in a bomb crater. They heard voices, but they couldn’t tell if they were the good guys or the bad guys. They figured they were better off getting captured than shot if they were Japs, so they approached the voices. Fortunately they were Marines, who laughed at them, but drove them back to their ship.
On the return voyage, when they were about 100 miles out of Hawaii, word came that the war was over!
Victor put in at Seattle, and signed off his ship. He signed onto another in Ft. Lauderdale, after stopping in at home first. The ship was a passenger ship, the George Washington. They went to Trinidad, and other Caribbean islands.
After 2 more tours, Vic realized he needed to go to college. So - he needed the GI Bill benefits. He joined the Army, and was assigned to the Pentagon << find out what he said the assignment was >> for 18 months.
Vic now had the GI Bill benefits, but no money! So - he went back to the Merchant Marine! He signed on with the South Atlantic Steamship company. He went to Marsailles, and other European cities, as well as Morocco and other African ports. As part of this he went down the Kiel Cannal during the post-war period. A short list of some of the cities includes, Rouen, Sherburg, Hamburg, Danzig (now Gdansk), Liverpool, New York, and Nova Scotia.
When he had some money, he left the Merchant Marine, and went to college at the Denver Art Institute.
While in Denver, Victor stayed at the same boarding house as Margaret Jean McGrath (Jean). They dated, fell in love, and got married.
Victor heard that the place to be for a commercial art career education was the Art Center School, in Pasadena, CA. Based on his military and Denver Art Institute credentials, he was accepted. He was able to get credit for a lot of his training in the Merchant Marines and Army. Vic earned a Bachelor of Professional Arts.
At Art Center School, Victor originally intended to be an illustrator. His advisors told him that although harder, it would be better to be an Art Director, and they told him they thought he had what it took. So, he took the Art Director curriculum.
Last revised November 21, 2013.