Lt. Col. Wesley L. Fry

My great adventure began with my assignment as a 2nd Lt. to the 301st BGp in the spring of 44. I learned to fly the B-17 and my crew and I proceeded to North Africa and Italy. Our first mission was to the Brux Oil Refineries in Austria. The following months we flew missions all over Southern Europe and the Balkins. Our 57 missions were uneventfull except for the usual flak and fighters that were always present. We lost our Navigator on one mission and two gunners severly wounded on two others. Jan 45 we lost two engines over the target of Bleckhammer and made it back to our base outside of Foggia. The most difficult part of the flight was getting over the Alps and the Adriatic Sea. The 'Nelly's Belly' didn't want to fly so well with the #3 and the #4 feathered but she got us home even though we were on the deck most of the way. Our longest mission was to Berlin during the last months of the war. We finished our tour almost intact and after a couple of trips to Capri, we were shipped home in the summer of 45. I was assigned to the 307th BGp at McDill and was preparing for the Pacific when Enola Gay finished the war with Japan. In Jun 50 we were suddenly ordered to Okinawa to conduct missions over North Korea in B-29s, attached to Gen MacArthur's FEAF. Our TDY orders read 30 days, but we were extended to over a year and completed 59 missions mostly low level interdiction sorties. After returning to the ZI, I was assigned to the 301st BGp, 32nd Sq at Barksdale. A couple of TDY's to England preceded the transition to B-47s and the wing was Combat Ready in these new aircraft in record time of just under 6 months. I got orders to the 26th Strat Recon Wg (B-47s) at Lockbourne AFB in the spring of 56. A few months later the 301st was transfered to Lockbourne, and again I became a member of my favorate BWg, and a member of the '32nd Air Force'. Reflex tours to North Africa and England took up the next several years and I retired when the 301st Wing became the 301st Refueling Wg. My Air Force career consisted of 26 years, of which 16 years, 2 months I served in the best Air Force- the 301st BWg. Lt. Col. Wesley L. Fry of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Preceded in death by wife Joan. Father of Victoria (Charles) Kasson of Littleton, CO., Lynda (Charles) Kiefer of Pickerington, OH., Skip (Melinda) Fry of Pickerington, OH., Brother of Thomas (Betty) Fry of Hattiesburg, MI., Patricia (Leland) Mannen of Indianapolis, IN., Barbara (William) Hendersen of Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. Grandfather of Amy Kasson, Carrie DeLima, Nicole Kiefer, Stephanie Scarpelli, Matthew Kasson, Alexis Fry, Kennedy Fry, Abby Jo Fry. Great-Grandfather of Zachary DeLima. Memorial Funeral Mass, 9:30 A.M., Thursday at Light of the World Catholic Church. Interment 11:00 A.M., Thursday at Fort Logan National Cemetery, Area "A", 3698 So. Sheridan Blvd., Denver, CO. A reception will be held at Light of the World Catholic Church following the interment at Fort Logan National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations to the American Heart Association of Colorado, 1280 So. Parker Rd., Denver, CO. 80231.