Victor Frisbie was born December 18, 1922, in the community of Portland, Clackamas County, Oregon, to Albert Freeman Frisbie and his wife Ella Marie (May) Frisbie, natives of Oregon and Colorado, respectively. He had one brother and three sisters. In 1940 the family resided in Deschutes County, Oregon, where Victor graduated from Bend High School in 1941 and his father worked as truck driver for a lumber company. When Victor registered for the draft on 28 June 1942, he was living at home.

No enlistment record could be found for Victor. However, newspaper articles indicate that he was a member of the Oregon National Guard in 1940 and 1941. It is presumed that Victor joined the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1943. Upon completion of his aerial gunnery training, he was assigned as a Staff Sergeant to the 600th Bomb Squadron of the 398th Bombardment Group (Heavy), Eighth Air Force, which flew B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers.

The 398th BG was activated 1 March 1943 at Ephrata Air Base, Washington and departed the States in April 1944, flying the North Atlantic route to England, where it was based at Nuthampstead, Hertfordshire. The group flew its first combat mission on 6 May 1944, bombing the heavy guns and missile sites in Sottevast, France. Over the next thirteen months, the group focused its bombing missions on strategic targets, with attacks on airfields, naval facilities, oil refineries and factories in France, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. The group also provided air support for the D-Day invasion in June 1944, the Battle of Holland in September 1944, The Battle of Bulge December 1944, and Operation Varsity in March 1945. SSgt Frisbie was the waist gunner on the crew of 1Lt Thomas L Thompson, one of the original 398th BG crews that arrived in England in April 1944.

On 30 May 1944, 1Lt Thompson’s crew was flying their 6th combat mission aboard B-17G 42-102498, named “Tailend Charlie”, one of 25 heavy bombers from the 398th BG dispatched as part of a combined force, to bomb airplane manufacturing facilities in Dessau, Germany. Shortly after releasing their ordnance, 1Lt Thompson’s aircraft came under attack from German fighters and sustained severe damage from 20mm cannon fire. Due to the damage from the attack, the bailout order was given, and seven crewmembers were able to bailout of the aircraft before it crashed, near Kothen, Anhalt-Bitterfield, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Six crew members survived and became prisoners of war. SSgt Frisbie and two other crew members were killed in the attack or in the resulting crash. The aircraft was the only aircraft from the 398th BG that failed to return from the mission.

SSgt Victor Frisbie is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial in Liège, Belgium. He is also memorialized at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, King County, Washington.

Thank you, SSgt Frisbie, for your service and your sacrifice, you will not be forgotten.

Crew of B-17G 42-102498 “Tailend Charlie”

Pilot, 1Lt Thomas L Thompson (KIA)
Co-Pilot, 2Lt Conard M Zufall (POW)
Bombardier, 2Lt John H Doherty (POW)
Navigator, 2Lt Ralph Garson (POW)
Top Turret Gunner / Engineer, TSgt John Namey (POW)
Radio Operator, TSgt George H Gagne (POW)
Ball Turret Gunner, Sgt Ernst Pennell (KIA)
Waist Gunner, SSgt Victor Frisbie (KIA)
Tail Gunner, SGT George W Hartwell (POW)

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story. SBTSProject/Oregon/Washington.

If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please contact me at malineric@outlook.com.

Sources:

1940 United States Federal Census
U.S., Headstone, and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil 1942- 1949
U.S., World War II and Korean Conflict Veterans Interned Overseas
398th Bomb Group Memorial Association 398th Bomb Group Web Site
398th Air Expeditionary Group - Wikipedia
398th Bomb Group | American Air Museum
Select Records for Victor Frisbie ancestry.com
Select Records for Victor Frisbie on fold3.com
Missing Air Crew Reports, #5312
The Bulletin (Newspaper) Bend, Oregon 27 March 1940
The Bulletin (Newspaper) Bend, Oregon 14 May 1941
The Bulletin (Newspaper) Bend, Oregon 30 October 1940
The Bulletin (Newspaper) Bend, Oregon 31 July 1941
Victor Frisbie (1922-1944) - Find a Grave Memorial
SSgt Victor Frisbie (1922-1944) - Find a Grave Memorial