By: Wenxian Zhang
John Gordon Fraser, Rollins’ WPRK radio station manager in the 1980s, was a news broadcasting pioneer who delivered historic accounts of ferocious battles during World War II. Born on February 4, 1908, in Lawrence, MA, Frazer attended Brown University. He began his long broadcasting career in 1931, first as a WEAN radio news reporter in Providence, RI, and four years later at WMCA, an NBC station in New York City. In 1939, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt presided over a historic debut of television at the New York World’s Fair, Fraser was the on-camera announcer for live broadcasting.[1] Within eight years, he made more than 5,000 broadcasts, including the announcements on the maiden voyages of the Queen Mary and the Normandie, the first flight of the Hindenburg of 1936, and the American tour of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom in June 1939.[2]
In 1943, Fraser left New York to become a wartime correspondent of the ABC Blue Network, embedded with the 1st Armored Division of the US Army. He followed American soldiers in North Africa and Italy and was the first journalist to report on the fall of Rome to Allied forces in early June 1944. He also gave detailed eye-witness accounts on the brutal Battle of Bulge and was one of the first Allied reporters to cross Rhine River. For his vivid war reporting, Fraser was decorated with seven battle stars.[3]
On April 4, 1945, American war correspondent Gordon Fraser stood at the bank of the Elbe River in Torgau, Germany, after broadcasting the eye-witness account of the first meeting of U.S. soldiers with the Russian troops. Taken by Hal Boyle of the Associated Press, this photo is also from the Fraser Journalism Papers.
At the conclusion of WWII, Fraser continued his work with ABC and reported on the founding of the United Nations in 1945. A decade later, Fraser helped launch NBC’s Monitor, a weekend radio news program that was broadcasted by stations across the country. For the next nineteen years, he was a writer, producer, and editor with Monitor and left his marks on the development of American journalism in the twentieth century. After his retirement from news reporting, Fraser moved to Orlando, Florida in 1974. When Rollins’s WPRK experienced some growing pains in the late 1970s, Fraser stepped forward to offering his professional service. He was appointed the radio station manager in 1982 and helped sustain its development until his second retirement in 1990. On January 27, 2000, Fraser died of natural causes at Winter Park Memorial Hospital. To preserve his legacy in news reporting, his daughter Faith Sarah Tilton Fraser presented his personal papers to the Rollins College Archives in July 2000.[4] The John Gordon Fraser Journalism Papers include Fraser’s works since his early years in radio broadcasting from 1936 to1943, but the bulk of the materials focus on his reporting during WWII, including his multiple handwritten notebooks, typescripts for Blue Network, as well as his work with UN and NBC Monitor radio program. Notable among the collection are hundreds of battleground photographs of the European Theatre of WWII, and some mementos of Fraser’s journalism career, such as his tape recorder, microphone, motion picture camera, lighter, matches, briefcase, and canvas bag. The last box contains a large Nazi banner singed by the US servicemen, the subject of this study.
German WWII Flag Presented to Fraser in September 1944
The large rectangular flag measured 60” by 128” with two original copper snap hooks still attached to the hoist, has the white cloth circles affixed to the center on both sides. There is a black cloth swastika symbol of the Nazi Party on each white circle, and the white circle on the front has 24 signatures of US soldiers with their hometowns inscribed in inked pen. The German cotton banner appears in good shape, despite some signs of wear and tear over the years and apparent liquid stains that blurred few inscriptions. On the top left corner of the white circle, Fraser wrote the following sentence: “These kids took most advanced position in Stolberg and gave this to me in appreciation of my visit with them.” Next to his notes was the autograph of “F 36th Armored Infantry, Sgt. E. C. Prikopa, Chicago, ILL.”[5]
The large banner also contains signatures of 23 other American servicemen of WWII, among them: Lt. Robert H. Anderson, Oelwein, Iowa; P.F.C. Sam Catalano, Louisiana; Sgt. Donlad F. Babineau, Woodland, Calif.; Francis J. Jochim, Evansville, Ind.; Olen Stwart; Foister Baker; T/5 Albert Detloff; P.F.C. A. D. Smith, Andover, Ohio; T. Sgt. Joe Gill; Tech. George Wilson; P.F.C. Howard Cutshall; Sgt. Stanley Lutzow, Kaukauna, Wis.; Pvt. Ernie Hrovatic, Salam, Ohio; Pvt. Robert Greenawalt, Allentown, Penn.; Pvt. Joseph J. Malicki; P.F.C. Mark B. Chandler, Dalas, Texas; 1st Sgt. John W. Oldfield, Canton, Kansas; T./Sgt. Paul Gordon Draher, Sandusky, Mich.; Pvt. John Joseph Skuba, Hazleton, Penna.; Pvt. Eaton, Lebanon, Ind.; S. Sgt. Lucas Scherb, Glenville, Minn.; Sgt. Al. Mazelis, Brlyn, NY; Pvt. Legere, Maine.[6]
Activated in 1941, the 3rd Armored Division (AD) of the 1st United States Army was organized as a heavy armored division to partake in the Normandy operations in the European Theatre. Arriving in England in September 1943, the 3rd AD entered in combat operation on Omaha Beach on June 24, 1944, and soon became the “spearhead” of the First Army through the Normandy Campaign.[7] As one of its core units of 3rd AD, the 36th Armored Infantry Regiment saw its first action at Villiers Fossard, Normandy and on August 10, 1944, Colonel William W. Cornog, Jr. became the first commander to be killed in regiment history.[8] Throughout WWII, soldiers of the 36th fought bravely in every 3rd AD’s European operation; three months into the war, the 36th was declared a combat infantry regiment with more that 65% of its personnel wearing the coveted badge.[9] They battled their way through France and Belgium, and by late September 1944 reached the German border town of Solberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, where they met with Frazer, who was then conducting radio broadcasts on the European battlefields for the Blue Network. In 1945, when reflecting upon his wartime experiences with American GIs en masse, Fraser had tears in his eyes: “They’re a grand bunch; you ought to see some of the amazing feats of fortitude performed by some quiet little guys.”[10]
On September 28, 1944, Fraser recorded his encounters with soldiers from Company F of the 36th. “Into another cellar, and this one is very small. Just one candle is burning. Sgt. John Oldfield, an oil driller from Canton, Kansas, is cleaning his pistol at the small table. In the shadows at the back of the room you see the forms and faces of men – lying sprawled on the floor – but no-one speaks. You talk with Oldfield and he tells you how they sent out a patrol last night to contact enemy and they got caught in enemy cross fire and got shot up… The shelling has started again now, and the house shakes with near hits. The front and side rooms of the house have already been shattered – but the dining room is in the rear of the large house, and is untouched, and its elegance is in startling contrast to the cellar. There are fourteen high-backed chairs around a banquet sized table. Three lighted candles are set in cut glass holders. An oriental rug serves as a tablecloth. The sterling silver knives and forks are properly placed. The chinaware has been cleaned to a high glisten and sheen. Fourteen tired and dirty faced men take their places around the table for the first sitting. Outside the door, an American tank is firing. Incoming German shells still shake the house – and then you hear St. Edward Prikoba, of 2118 South Halstead St., Chicago – ask who’s going to say grace – and someone down your side of the table speaks up in a bold voice of confident faith and asks for the lord’s blessing on the table and the men around it. House-to-house fighting still going on in Stolberg…”[11]
Soldiers of F Company of the US Army 36th Armored Infantry
Records from the Fraser Papers indicated that the flag was presented to him in late 1944 by soldiers of the F Company, after the 36th Armored Infantry Regiment of 3rd Armored Division captured Stolberg on the western border of Nazi Germany. The 36th Armored Infantry Regiment APO253 Personnel Directory provided additional information on those servicemen.[12] By searching through the Ancestry Library, more fascinating details are revealed about those US fighters in the European Theatre eighty years ago.
With 1st Lieutenant Anderson as the platoon leader, American signers included nine sergeants and technicians, and the rest were soldiers of different ranks. All together they came from sixteen states, with three from Texas, two from California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and one each from Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. All appeared single while serving in the US military during WWII, with 1st Sgt. John Wesley Oldfield (2/20/1906-1/19/1966) the oldest at age 38, and Private First-Class Howard Leslie Cutshall (8/21/1925-2/27/1945) the youngest at age 19. In terms of occupations, many were farm hands before their services, others were factory workers, bus and taxi drivers, tractor operators, and salesmen. Most had some high school education or still in high school when they were drafted into military, with only two attended college, Technical Sergeants Albert John Detloff (12/28/1918-3/20/2001) and Joe LaFess Gill (7/21/1924-12/25/1944).
American military records depicted their brave acts on the European battlegrounds. Lieutenant Anderson earned both the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart for his heroic actions during combats. Enlisted on June 4, 1942, Private First-Class Foister Josph Baker (9/6/1922-3/15/1981) was shot on shoulder in July 1944 and was injured again by fragment of artillery shell four months later. In August 1944, Sergeant Stanley George Lutzow (10/18/1918-6/9/1993) was a victim of bomb explosion and was treated with Penicillin. In a battle in November 1944, Sergeant Alfonse J. Mazelis (12/10/1917-5/25/1972) suffered traumatic damage to his thigh that led to osteomyelitis and arthritis. Privates First-Class Elwood Eaton (11/19/1913-11/14/1980) and Arlington Don Smith (2/6/1920-2/19/2008) were also wounded by German artillery blasts during the Battle of Bulge in January 1945. In addition, Sergeants Paul Gordon Draher (11/8/1918-2/3/1995) and Joe Gill also received Purple Hearts for wounds in action in Europe.
Center, Private Ernie Hrovatic in army uniform. Right, Hrovatic’s tombstone in the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium.
More notably, after signing their names on the German flag in September 1944, three soldiers were killed in action in the ensuing fights of WWII. During the Battle of Bulge, Sergeant Albert Detloff, a twenty-year-old Jewish American who enlisted on April 12, 1943, was killed on Christmas Day, December 25, 1944, by aerial bomb in Hotton, Arrondissement de Marche-en-Famenne, Luxembourg, Belgium. On January 14, 1945, twenty-two-year-old Private Ernie Hrovatic also lost his life in Ottré, Arrondissement de Bastogne, Luxembourg, Belgium. On February 27, 1945, nineteen-year-old Private First-Class Howard Cutshall, only child of Victor and Mae S. Cutshall of Huntingdon, Penn., was killed in action during a battle in western Germany.
At the end of World War II, most of the soldiers from F Company were honorably discharged and returned to civilian life. Lt. Anderson was promoted to Captain before his retirement from the military services but remained single for the rest of his life. Some veterans returned to farming in their hometowns, while others became factory foreman, textile mill superintendent, or petroleum executive. Many of them got married, lived normal lives in various communities across the country, and had multiple children and grandchildren. Arlington D. Smith became the last survivor of flag signers from F Company, who passed away in Perry, Ohio at age 88 on February 19, 2008. While Russia’s war with Ukraine still rages on in Europe, the year 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the ending of WWII. As we pay tributes to those brave servicemen for their acts of valor in defeating the evil Nazi regime, we shall never forget those heroic soldiers who made ultimate sacrifice in defending the freedom and liberty around the world.
Left, Bronze Star Medal. Center, insignia of 36th Armored Infantry Regiment. Right, Purple Heart Medal.
Acknowledgements
Research assistance provided by Mr. Jay Olson is gratefully acknowledged. Other than those noted, images of the F Company soldiers, and their tombstones are from the Ancestry Library and Find a Grave databases.
[1] “Funeral Notices: Fraser, J Gordon.” Orlando Sentinel, February 3, 2000, D4.
[2] “Jack Fraser, Veteran Newsman at 35. Joins Blue’s Overseas News Staff.” Blue Network Trade News, December 17, 1943.
[3] “Gordon Fraser, Newscaster, Wears 7 War II Battle Stars.” Nassau Daily Review-Star, 18.
[4] John Gordon Fraser Papers of the Journalism, Archives and Special Collections, Olin Library, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida.
[5] Nazi Banner, Box 10 Memorabilia, John Gordon Fraser Papers of the Journalism, Rollins College Archives.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Chronology, Third Armored Division Association Archives, University of Illinois Archives, https://archives.library.illinois.edu/about-us/program-areas/association-archives/3rdarmor/3ad-chronology/.
[8] 36th Armored Infantry Regiment WWII, Association of Third Armored Division Veterans, https://www.3ad.org/unitpages.cfm?subpage=5083.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Villette Hodge, “Interesting Neighbors.” Manhasset Press, June 8, 1945, 1 & 4.
[11] Scripts for Blue Network, September 1944, Originals with Handwritten Notes, France, Belgium, and Germany. Box 2, Folder 33, John Gordon Fraser Papers of the Journalism, Archives and Special Collections, Olin Library, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida.
[12] The 36th Armored Infantry Regiment Personnel Directory, Spearhead Doughboy Association, Army Post Office 253,printed by M. Ruckert’s Buchdruckerei, Gerabronn, Germany, November 1945.