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Contact Info
Home Town Bangor, Maine
Last Address York, Maine
Date of Passing Jan 06, 1994
Location of Interment Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery - Augusta, Maine
Wall/Plot Coordinates SECTION M ROW 12 SITE 20
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
He was the pilot of one of 12 B-17s which arrived over Oahu on a flight from the U.S. on Dec 7, 1941. With no ammunition on board, he could do little more than to try to escape, so he played tag with Japanese fighters before he was finally able to land safely on a golf course. On Mar 17, 1942, he piloted the B-17 that flew General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippine Islands.
Synopsis of his DSC citation: Awarded for actions during World War II
(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: Captain (Air Corps) Frank P. Bostrom, United States Army Air Forces, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as Pilot of a B-17 Heavy Bomber in the 40th Reconnaissance Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group (H), FAR EAST Air Force, while participating in bombing missions during the period 10 through 14 April 1942, in action against enemy Japanese forces in the Philippine islands. Captain Bostrom participated in a daring 4-day mission under the command of Brigadier General Ralph Royce, who led a flight of seven B-25Cs and three B-17s from Australia to a staging field at Del Monte on Mindanao in the Philippine Islands. Over the following two days the B-25's and B-17's attacked the many ships and the docks at Cebu, the air and harbor facilities at Davao, and Nichols Field on Luzon. The B-25 Mitchell's were involved in over twenty sorties. They sank one Japanese transport and possibly two others. They also shot down three Japanese aircraft. All but one of the aircraft returned to Australia without the loss of a single flyer, and they brought out a number of important military and diplomatic personnel who had gathered at Del Monte to await evacuation. The personal courage and zealous devotion to duty displayed by Captain Bostrom during this period have upheld the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the Far East Air Force, and the United States Army Air Forces.
General Orders: Headquarters, U.S. Army Forces in Australia, General Orders No. 39 (1942)
Description The plan of the Pacific subseries was determined by the geography, strategy, and the military organization of a theater largely oceanic. Two independent, coordinate commands, one in the Southwest Pacific under General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and the other in the Central, South, and North Pacific (Pacific Ocean Areas) under Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, were created early in the war. Except in the South and Southwest Pacific, each conducted its own operations with its own ground, air, and naval forces in widely separated areas. These operations required at first only a relatively small number of troops whose efforts often yielded strategic gains which cannot be measured by the size of the forces involved. Indeed, the nature of the objectivesùsmall islands, coral atolls, and jungle-bound harbors and airstrips, made the employment of large ground forces impossible and highlighted the importance of air and naval operations. Thus, until 1945, the war in the Pacific progressed by a double series of amphibious operations each of which fitted into a strategic pattern developed in Washington.
21 Named Campaigns were recognized in the Asiatic Pacific Theater with Battle Streamers and Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medals.
