Frank Hamblin Hunter was born 5 April 1915 in Cedar City, Utah, the son of Miles W. and Alta Hamblin Hunter. His grandparents were George and Jane Williams Hunter and Francis M. and Rose Brown Hamblin. A younger brother Evan died as a teenager from complications following pneumonia.

An excellent athlete, Frank starred in both football and basketball in high school and at the Branch Agricultural College in Cedar City. On 1 September 1937, he married Luzon Anderson of Richfield, Utah. They resided in the Salt Lake City area and Frank worked as an electrician at the Bingham copper mines.

In January 1942, Frank Hunter enlisted in the Army Air Forces. He received his wings 29 September 1942 and was assigned as a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot. He left for action in North Africa in January 1943, part of the 346th Bomber Squadron of the 99th Bomber Group. One mission received special attention.

According to the hometown newspaper, the Iron County Record: “People of Cedar City were thrilled Friday night and Saturday when the word was flashed over all the major broadcasting networks of the nation that Lieutenant Frank Hunter, U. S. Army Air Forces, had performed one of the outstanding feats of skill and coolness under difficulties of the war, when he had brought a badly damaged Flying Fortress back to its home base and made a sensational crash landing safely.”

During the mission to Messina, Italy, on 25 June 1943, approximately 50 enemy fighters attacked the American formation. The plane that Lt. Hunter was piloting was hit and damaged. After Lt. Hunter fell out of formation, several enemy fighters focused on his damaged plane, but his crew members fought back, downing two of the enemy planes.

Lt. Hunter was able to rejoin the formation, but another group of enemy fighters attacked and caused additional damage. Again the crew fought gallantly, downing an additional five enemy fighters.

Despite serious injuries to several of his crew and less serious injuries to himself, with two engines totally out, wings damaged, instruments out, flaps and wheels unusable, Lieutenant Hunter made a successful belly landing in Tunisia without causing further injury to the crew.

Less than a month after the heroic landing, Lieutenant Frank Hunter and his plane were shot down during a mission over Foggia, Italy on 22 July 1943. Two of the crew members were able to parachute to the ground, but they were captured and held as prisoners of war. Lieutenant Hunter was listed as Missing in Action until it was confirmed that he and the other crew members were killed in the crash.

Captain Vernon Cooley from Cedar City, serving as a chaplain in Italy, wrote a letter to Frank’s mother a year later, indicating that he had found and dedicated the grave of Lieutenant Hunter “resting in a very beautiful spot with his brothers-in-arms.”

On 1 December 1949 the remains of Lieutenant Hunter were returned to Cedar City and a graveside memorial service was held in the Cedar City cemetery.

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.

++Sources:++

Iron County Record, 27 Apr 1933, 8 Oct 1942, 17 Jun 1943, 1 Jul 1943, 15 Jul 1943, 12 Aug 1943, 27 Jul 1944, 1 Dec 1949. From https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/

Iron County Today, 19 Feb 2020.

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=388067

++http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/3385++

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