Frank Frazier - Home - Mickey Strand - Veterans Series

Mickey Strand - Veterans Series

The Veterans Portrait Series

Mickey is a retired Navy Photographers Mate, Chief Petty Officer, and was the Leading Chief of the Navy's elite Combat Camera Group Pacific. Mickey's current focus is the Veterans Portrait Series, which documents veterans' stories of service. He is focused on our Worlds' Greatest Generation. The veterans of World War II. 

Mickey interviews each Veteran, collecting and writing their service stories, archiving these notable historic figures and their stories for generations to come. Mickey has collected and displayed images and stories from over 100 warriors that at one point, signed the dotted line when our country needed their sacrifice of service most.  Mickey continues to collect Veterans from all services for the Veterans Portrait Series. In 2019 this body of work was displayed at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre Museum from Nov 11, 2019 — to March 1, 2020.

Mickey and the project were in the national spotlight, featured on the Sunday Today Show with Harry Smith Today Show Link to YouTube.  See the Google 360 Virtual walk through from the Palm Beach Museum Exhibit. Enjoy, and thank you for your help with this project. In 2022 Mickey has photographed over 25 more WW2 Veterans and will be hosting a print show in San Diego in November with an open house on Veterans Day.

Featured Veteran

James Forrester
US Navy
FC1 - CDR
World War 2

James Forrester was born November 21, 1920, and served as a Fire Controlman during WW2. James enlisted in 1939 and served in the US Navy for 30 years.

He is a survivor of the sinking of the aircraft carrier USS Wasp CV-7. James was a plank owner onboard and served aboard from her commissioning day, 25 April 1940, to the day she was sunk on 15 September 1942 by three torpedoes from the Japanese B1 type submarine (I-19) at the Battle of Guadalcanal.

James, an FC1 at the time, remembered the Captain declaring abandoned ship over the 1MC "Public Address system" about 30 min after the strikes. He donned his Kapok life vest and jumped into the water on the port side. He was separated from his shipmates while swimming away from the sinking ship until late at night. James recounted, during the night, while praying and making his peace with God, when he saw the light of a motor whaleboat. He caused a lot of noise, splashing and yelling until the coxswain saw him. The small boat was already full of survivors, but James grabbed the trail line with three other men and was towed back to the USS Farenholt DD-491.

The Farenhold saved 143 Wasp Sailors, including James. James returned to San Diego for survivors’ leave and still gets emotional about the day he pulled back into San Diego, realizing he would be okay. Four destroyers pulled the survivors out of the Pacific that night, with the Wasp losing 193 of her over 2100 sailors.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Where can I donate?

I have created a way to accept donations to grow the project, use the WWII Veterans Portrait Series
  Go Fund Me.

Where are you located?

I live in the San Diego area but have traveled to many locations to interview and photograph Veterans.


How Long is an Appointment?

Appointments usually last 1 hour. But please free up time for Mickey to set up lights and cameras, hold the interview, and take some photographs for the project.

Do you accept reservations?

Yes is the simple answer to the question.  Each appointment is set up as an individual session. Group sessions have been set up when I visited a senior living facility or many of the California Veterans Homes.

Copyright © 2023 Mickey Strand – Veterans Series
Frank Frazier was born on Nov 17, 1929, and grew up on a farm in Texas before moving to San Antonio after his father's passing. After graduating from Central Catholic High in 1947, Frank attended Texas A and M Corps of Cadets School, graduating with an Aeronautical Engineering degree. Frank was commissioned as a 2nd Lt after four years of ROTC at Texas A and M. Frank selected his path early in life. When working in the fields at seven, a barnstormer buzzed the farm and lit his passion for flight. He received his pilot's license at 16, in a Piper J3 Cub during his senior year of High school when lessons and flight time at Stinson field were only $8 an hour. He mowed lawns, worked summers in the oil fields, paid for flight time, and then went through college, graduating debt-free. Second Lt. Frazier reported to Air Force Primary flight training at Malden Army Airfield, Missouri, flying the North American T-6 Texans. He then reported for six months to Williams Air Force Base, Phoenix, AZ, for advanced flight training in Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star subsonic jet trainers. He finalized his training in the North American F-86 Sabre Jet at Nellis Air Force Base Las Vegas. This was the jet he would be flying for combat operations in Korea. In Feb 1953, Frank reported to Korea, flying with the 336 Fighter Interceptor Squadron, 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing out of K-14 Kimpo (Gimpo) Korea. He patrolled “MIG Ally,” protecting Fifth AF bomber operations from MIG-15 attacks. In early June, he got his first kill against a MIG-15, and on the 19th, he shared his 2nd kill. Frank flew 63 missions during his deployment and returned home after the end of combat operations. Frank returned to Edwards AFB to work as a Flight Test Engineer for four years. During this time, Capt Frazier was reassigned to Seattle as a test pilot for the Boeing B-52 acceptance test flights and flew the third airframe built in 1954-5. He followed that with four years at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, using his Aeronautical Engineering degree to test equipment and new aircraft. With all this work as an engineer, Frank decided he wanted to fly these new jets and was assigned to the Test Pilot School at Edwards in 1957. 1st Lt Frazier graduated as a USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot on 3 Jan 1958. Frank participated in the original Mercury Project in 1958. He went through all of the tests and evaluations with the 32 members’ perspective astronauts and found out years later that he was the 10th man on the list of the seven selected astronauts. In 1959 Frank was testing a B-47 Stratojet and set the world record at the time flying for 80 hours and 36 min. Maj Frasier served in 67-68 in Vietnam, flying 115 missions, with the 497th Tactical Fighter squadron, the Night Owls, in F-4 phantoms performing low-level night ground support missions. Returning to Edwards AFB after Vietnam, Lt Col Fraser served as the Deputy Commandant Aerospace Research School, where he joined the M2 club, having traveled twice the speed of sound or Mach 2, on 6 Sep 63 in a Convair F-106 Delta Dart. Frank retired in March of 1972 after packing all that excitement into 20 years, nine months, and 12 days of active duty. Frank continued flying for over 12 years in many aircraft until retiring from the flight with over 30 thousand hours of flying time. Frank received the distinguished flying cross with three oak leaf clusters.
Frank Frazier - Home - Mickey Strand - Veterans Series
Frank Frazier was born on Nov 17, 1929, and grew up on a farm in Texas before moving to San Antonio after his father's passing. After graduating from Central Catholic High in 1947, Frank attended Texas A and M Corps of Cadets School, graduating with an Aeronautical Engineering degree. Frank was commissioned as a 2nd Lt after four years of ROTC at Texas A and M. Frank selected his path early in life. When working in the fields at seven, a barnstormer buzzed the farm and lit his passion for flight. He received his pilot's license at 16, in a Piper J3 Cub during his senior year of High school when lessons and flight time at Stinson field were only $8 an hour. He mowed lawns, worked summers in the oil fields, paid for flight time, and then went through college, graduating debt-free. Second Lt. Frazier reported to Air Force Primary flight training at Malden Army Airfield, Missouri, flying the North American T-6 Texans. He then reported for six months to Williams Air Force Base, Phoenix, AZ, for advanced flight training in Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star subsonic jet trainers. He finalized his training in the North American F-86 Sabre Jet at Nellis Air Force Base Las Vegas. This was the jet he would be flying for combat operations in Korea. In Feb 1953, Frank reported to Korea, flying with the 336 Fighter Interceptor Squadron, 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing out of K-14 Kimpo (Gimpo) Korea. He patrolled “MIG Ally,” protecting Fifth AF bomber operations from MIG-15 attacks. In early June, he got his first kill against a MIG-15, and on the 19th, he shared his 2nd kill. Frank flew 63 missions during his deployment and returned home after the end of combat operations. Frank returned to Edwards AFB to work as a Flight Test Engineer for four years. During this time, Capt Frazier was reassigned to Seattle as a test pilot for the Boeing B-52 acceptance test flights and flew the third airframe built in 1954-5. He followed that with four years at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, using his Aeronautical Engineering degree to test equipment and new aircraft. With all this work as an engineer, Frank decided he wanted to fly these new jets and was assigned to the Test Pilot School at Edwards in 1957. 1st Lt Frazier graduated as a USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot on 3 Jan 1958. Frank participated in the original Mercury Project in 1958. He went through all of the tests and evaluations with the 32 members’ perspective astronauts and found out years later that he was the 10th man on the list of the seven selected astronauts. In 1959 Frank was testing a B-47 Stratojet and set the world record at the time flying for 80 hours and 36 min. Maj Frasier served in 67-68 in Vietnam, flying 115 missions, with the 497th Tactical Fighter squadron, the Night Owls, in F-4 phantoms performing low-level night ground support missions. Returning to Edwards AFB after Vietnam, Lt Col Fraser served as the Deputy Commandant Aerospace Research School, where he joined the M2 club, having traveled twice the speed of sound or Mach 2, on 6 Sep 63 in a Convair F-106 Delta Dart. Frank retired in March of 1972 after packing all that excitement into 20 years, nine months, and 12 days of active duty. Frank continued flying for over 12 years in many aircraft until retiring from the flight with over 30 thousand hours of flying time. Frank received the distinguished flying cross with three oak leaf clusters.