Arthur Ralph Friesz was born June 13, 1917, in Flasher, Morton County, North Dakota, to Ralph V. (1889-1955) and Pauline Opitz (1892-1984) Friesz. Ralph was born in Russia and Pauline’s parents were German. Ralph worked in a dry goods store, and by 1940, was a commercial traveling salesman selling wholesale groceries. Arthur was the second of five children born to Ralph and Pauline: Raymond Henry (1916-1994), Arthur Ralph (1917-1944), Robert Eugene (1919-1944), Dolores M. Fitzsimmons (1923-2015), and Richard Roger (1927-)

Captain Raymond Friesz served in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps as a dentist in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Lt. Robert E. Friesz served in the U.S. Army in World War II and was killed on August 25, 1944, while serving in France. Dolores Friesz graduated from the University of North Dakota and took pilot training in 1946. In 1951, she married Captain Patrick J. Fitzsimmons who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. Richard enlisted in the U.S. Army Medical Corps on March 3, 1945, at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, in the Medical Administrative Corps.

Arthur attended public schools in Mandan, North Dakota, graduating from Mandan High School in 1934. He was an honor roll student and class treasurer for his junior class. He was a member of the Boy Scouts for several years. In April 1934, Arthur won awards in the district declamation and music contests for high school students in North Dakota. He placed fourth in boys’ oratory and first in the boys’ low voice solo. His first place finish qualified Arthur to participate in the statewide contest in May 1934 at the University of North Dakota (UND) in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Arthur attended the University of North Dakota and was an active student in the College of Science, Literature, and Arts. In September 1935, Arthur pledged as a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity at UND. Beta Theta Pi promotes developing men of principle for a principled life.

In 1936, as a freshman, he qualified for academic honors with a B average or above.

In April 1936, Arthur was one of 79 successful candidates for active membership in the Dakota Playmakers at the University of North Dakota. The 79 were chosen from 140 reserve Playmaker members who took part in tryout plays during the 1935-1936 academic year. Additionally, Arthur was a reporter for the “The Dakota Student” newspaper.

March 13, 1938, Arthur was elected to Scabbard and Blade, one of the only national scholastic military honor societies. To qualify, a student must be a current ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) member, be in or about to enter junior or senior year of college, and rank in the top 20% of the ROTC commander’s order of merit listing.

In November 1938, Arthur achieved the rank of First Lieutenant in the ROTC unit of the University of North Dakota, at Grand Forks.

Arthur registered for the draft on October 16, 1940, in Fargo, Cass County, North Dakota. He was 5’10” tall, weighed 155 pounds, and had brown eyes and brown hair. He listed his father as the “person who will always know how to reach me” and their home address of 502 3rd Avenue NW in Mandan, Morton County, North Dakota. Arthur noted his own employer as General Motors Acceptance Corporation, Universal Building, in Fargo, North Dakota. Arthur was living at 302 8th Street North, Apartment 2, in Fargo.

Arthur reported to the U.S. Army at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, on January 6, 1942. He was stationed at Rome Army Airfield, Rome, New York, in 1943. In February 1943 he was promoted to First Lieutenant. While at Rome Army Airfield, 1Lt. Friesz received test pilot training in a simulator at the Link Training Section in the Operations Hangar. Test pilots were trained to, and sometimes did, perform actions that even movie stunt pilots would consider heroic.

“The Kicking Mule” was a B26 which came to Rome Army Airfield in March 1943 for modifications and checkup before going into service in the European Theater of Operations. Capt. Friesz did the flight test for “The Kicking Mule” and pronounced it “fit and ready for battle service.” Capt. Friesz and the Rome Air Service Command performed their tasks well; the record of “The Kicking Mule” attested to this. When “The Kicking Mule” returned to Rome Army Airfield in May 1944, it was battle-scarred and battered from 63 missions against the enemy in the Mediterranean theater but still flying. “The Kicking Mule” and its crew had survived the bumpy road from Rome, New York, to Rome, Italy, and back again in a little over 14 months with only one casualty. The plane was “pickled” (prepared for storage) by the Rome Air Service Command as its flying days were over.

On July 8, 1944, Capt. Arthur Friesz married Florence Jean Hendrick, in Portsmouth, Ohio. Florence was born August 1, 1923, in Portsmouth, to Joseph and Catherine (O’Connell) Hendrick. The couple lived at 310 East Bloomfield Street in Rome, New York.

November 7, 1944, Capt. Arthur Friesz, pilot, Capt. Vernon Cammack, co-pilot, and four civilian technicians were test flying a B17F (Flying Fortress) from Rome Army Airfield in preparation for the plane going to Europe for action against Germany. The carburetor on one of the four engines backfired and exploded in midair at 4 p.m. The flame followed back to the auxiliary supply tank and the plane lost altitude quickly. Capt. Friesz ordered everyone to bail out while he stayed in order to keep the plane in the air long enough to avoid crashing into the village of Troupsburg, New York. The co-pilot and two of the civilian technicians, Anthony Fiduccia and Harold Weed, jumped to safety. The two remaining civilians, Albert Wright and Harvey Drew, waited too long to jump and were killed when they jumped. Capt. Friesz was also killed when he jumped at the last minute, his body only 200 feet from the wreck. In a heroic effort that cost his life, he kept the plane from hitting Troupsburg.

The plane passed over Troupsburg and crashed into a hill on a farm, plowing two feet into the ground for over 200 feet. Wreckage was scattered over fifteen acres. Upon impact, the 800-gallon fuel tank exploded with the fire burning for more than two hours.

On December 9, 1944, Florence accompanied the body of her husband of only four months home to Mandan, North Dakota, for burial in the Mandan Union Cemetery.

Florence married Paul Soltis on July 1, 1949, in Chillicothe, Ohio. Sgt. Paul Soltis served in the U.S. Army in WWII. Florence and Paul had three children and several grandchildren. Paul died February 18, 2001, and Florence died November 3, 2004. Both are buried in Woodbrook Cemetery in Woburn, Massachusetts.

Captain Arthur Friesz was posthumously awarded the Rome, New York, Medal of Honor. He is listed at the North Dakota Veterans Affairs website and at the University of North Dakota Veterans Honor Wall, as is his brother, Lt. Robert Friesz.

At the Mandan Union Cemetery, Mandan, North Dakota, Captain Arthur Friesz is buried next to his brother, Lt. Robert E. Friesz, who was killed in France on August 25, 1944.

End notes: This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars Project, a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3 web sites. Can you help write these stories? These stories will be accessible via smartphone app at any war memorial or cemetery. If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please contact hillerson@beyondbb.com.  

Resources:

Findagrave.com:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93419761/arthur_r-friesz

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93419706/ralph_v_friesz

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93419726/pauline_friesz

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107695133/raymond-henry-friesz

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93419743/robert_eugene_friesz

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/191042374/dolores-fitzsimmons

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/80476274/joseph-hendrick

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/80476275/catherine_hendrick

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/81475652/helen_m_miller

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/184334695/paul-j-soltis

Fold3.com:

https://www.fold3.com/image/319537061/friesz-arthur-ralph-page-1-us-headstone-applications-1925-1963

https://www.fold3.com/image/310762386/north-dakota-page-6-us-wwii-army-and-army-air-force-casualty-list-1946

https://www.fold3.com/image/670211117/friesz-richard-roger-page-1-us-wwii-draft-registration-cards-1940

https://www.fold3.com/sub-image/646510014/friesz-raymond-h-us-marine-corps-muster-rolls-1798-1958

https://www.fold3.com/record/84696277/richard-r-friesz-us-wwii-army-enlistment-records-1938-1946

https://www.fold3.com/image/670211122/friesz-robert-eugene-page-2-us-wwii-draft-registration-cards-1940

Aviation Archeology: https://aviationarchaeology.com/rptAF55.asp?RecID=61605

HonorStates.org: https://www.honorstates.org/profiles/507695/

North Dakota Veterans Affairs: https://www.veterans.nd.gov/heroes/arthur-r-friesz

State Historical Society of North Dakota Archives: https://www.history.nd.gov/archives/whatnewspapers.html

University of North Dakota Veterans Honor Wall: https://und.edu/student-life/union/honor-wall.html

Air Force Civil Engineer Center: https://www.afcec.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/466137/former-griffiss-air-force-base-ny/

HonorSociety.org: Scabbard and Blade - https://www.honorsociety.org/honor-societies/National-Society-of-Scabbard-and-Blade

B17F – Flying Fortress: https://b17flyingfortress.de/en/versionen/b-17f/#:~:text=The%20main%20difference%20between%20the,numbers%20by%20three%20different%20manufacturers.

Beta Theta Pi: https://www.beta.org/

Supporting Documents