James E. Frolking

World War II fighter pilot James Edward Frolking, who flew over the English Channel on his first mission on D-Day and was later shot down over the Dutch Islands, died Sept. 5, 2024, at Hospice of the Western Reserve. He was 100. 

On D-Day, he flew a P-38 above the English Channel patrolling the sea lanes.

“It was pretty spectacular,” he recalled decades later. “It appeared you could step from one ship to another all the way from England to France.” 

He was on his 52nd mission in a P-51 on Oct. 7, 1944, when he was hit by anti-aircraft fire. He bailed out and landed on a sand bar in water chest deep. His first act was to light a cigarette. He stayed put overnight awaiting rescue and the next morning paddled a dinghy to Noord Beveland, a German-occupied island in the Netherlands. The Dutch Underground safeguarded him on a farm, and he was liberated by Canadian forces who returned him to England about 30 days later. He maintained lifelong ties with the family who hid him and penned a 1999 memoir, “Down in the Dutch Islands,” chronicling that part of his life.  

He spent the balance of World War II as a flight instructor in Abilene, Texas.

On the 75th anniversary of D-Day June 6, 2019, he was invited to the commemoration in Normandy where he was moved by the hero’s welcome he and other veterans received.“

It was the most amazing trip I had ever taken,” he said later. “The French people were just so loving and grateful.” 

Born in Cleveland, April 30, 1924, Frolking was the middle child of Florence Louise Culbertson and Stanley Alfred Frolking. He lived in Shaker Heights, attending public schools through ninth grade. After his parents divorced and his mother remarried, he moved to Cleveland Heights with her, where he graduated from Cleveland Heights High School in 1942. 

Frolking’s interest in flight and aviation was sparked at the Cleveland National Air Races, which he attended in the 1930s with his father. On his 18th birthday, as a high school senior, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps. 

On Dec. 7, 1942, exactly a year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he began aviation cadet training and received his pilot’s wings at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona. In April of 1944, he shipped out to England, where he became a replacement pilot with the 479th Fighter Group 8th Air Force. He was 20 years old. 

Frolking was separated from military service in September of 1945 and remained in Air Force Reserves receiving honorable discharge in March of 1955. Following active military service he attended Adelbert College of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. 

He met Patty Lou Schoonover when the two were working as ticketing agents at United Airlines in Cleveland. The two married at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights, April 16, 1948. Frolking borrowed his father-in-law’s car to take his bride on a weekend honeymoon to Dearborn, Mich.

 The two had three sons and settled in Shaker Heights, where Frolking served on the Recreation Board as a member and president, helping to develop Thornton Park, and was a member of Shaker Heights City Council from 1967 to 1971. On Feb. 2, 1970, he witnessed the immediate aftermath of the bombing of the Shaker Heights Police Department. 

Frolking worked as a management trainee at National City Bank from 1947 to 1949. He then worked for Second Federal Savings & Loan Association, and for 26 years at Shaker Savings Association, where he was promoted to vice president and marketing director.

Frolking then worked at State Savings & Loan Co. as vice president of marketing and finished his career at Cuyahoga Savings Association, retiring in 1986. 

He served as a board member of the Chagrin-Lee Merchants Association and the Heights Area Chamber of Commerce.

 A left-hander, Frolking took up golf in adulthood, sinkingtwo holes in one.

He sang barbershop in a quartet called the Unfed Four and with the North Coast Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, where he served as a board member and president.Three weeks prior to his death, he sang the National Anthem in a 12-man barbershop chorus at the Lake County Captains game against West Michigan in Eastlake. 

He was a co-founder, board member and president of Shaker Boys’ (baseball) League.

In retirement, he became the treasurer for Shaker Heights Municipal Court Judge K.J. Montgomery’s re-election campaign and volunteered for 28 years at that court. He volunteered as a tax counselor for AARP’s tax aid program for nearly 30 years. He also served as a board member of Shaker / Beachwood Meals on Wheels. 

Frolking was invited to speak about his World War II experience by Rotary Clubs, public libraries and schools.       

On May 10, 2003, Frolking was the guest of honor to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the official handover of Wattisham Airfield to the U.S. Army Air Force. He went at the request of General Kyle Riddle, who asked Frolking to attend in his place.

                      In August 2015, he was awarded the French Legion of Honor at a D-Day re-enactment in Conneaut, Ohio. He was also decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with Four Oak Leaf Clusters, the French Croix de Guerre, the French Jubilee Liberty Medal D-Day, the European Theater Medal, the American Theater Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

                       He became treasurer of the 436th Squadron Association and planned reunions for several years. His military affiliations also included the 8th Air Force Historical Society, the Mighty Air Force Museum, the U.S. Air Forces Escape & Evasion Society, East Essex Aviation Society in the United Kingdom and was a charter member of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. 

Patty Frolking died Dec. 19, 2014. 

Frolking leaves a sister, Nancy Louise Shelton of Crystal Lake, Ill.; three sons, James Christopher Frolking (Margie Nulsen) of Kneeland, Calif., Tod Alexander Frolking (Evelyn Hoyt) of Granville, Ohio; and Stephen Edward Frolking (Joanna Wicklein) of Durham, N.H.; four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his brother, Robert Stanley Frolking, and by loving companion, Joanie Kaufman.

Contributions in his memory may be made to the Cleveland Food Bank. 

Family services will be held.