Looking back at his life; Frank Walling turns 95 today
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WORLAND - Worland resident and World War II veteran Frank Walling turns 95 years young today and will be celebrating with friends and family from as far away as Oregon and as close from town.
“My nephew, niece and friends from Oregon will be here for my birthday,” Walling said. “Quite a few people should be here,” he added.
Walling was born in Walsh, Colo., and moved to Pocahontas, Tenn., at the age of 1. At 11 his mother remarried and he moved to Casa Grande, Ariz.
One of his fondest memories is of his stepfather on his 11th birthday in Odessa, Texas, on the way to Casa Grande. “My stepfather was crippled, which made it hard for him to drive. On my 11th birthday we went to town to get some things and on the way back he asked me if I wanted to drive. He said that he would shift for me, all the cars were manual back then, and I told him that I had been watching him and thought that I could do it. He let me drive all the way back to where we were camping,” he said.
When the family got to Casa Grande, life was very difficult because there were no jobs at the time. “There weren’t any jobs at the time and there wasn’t anything like welfare back then. I don’t know how we survived, but we did,” he said. “My stepfather was a wonderful father,” he added.
Walling remembered, while still in school working to help the family, “I had a paper route in the morning and a paper route in the afternoon. I also worked reading telegrams after my afternoon paper route, until midnight,” Walling said. “I was the only kid in school allowed to sleep in study hall without getting my fingers rapped, because the teachers knew what I did,” he added.
Walling served in the military from 1941 through 1953 in both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force, spending seven years in the Army and five years in the Air Force as a bomb expert. “I was on ship when the A-bomb was dropped six miles away, what a flash, you had to close your eyes as tight as you could,” he said.
In the Air Force he also worked on the moon rocket. “I worked on the moon rockets. I always put my mark on the rockets, in the third stage, my stamp, I think it was number 17,” Walling said. “I knew a lot of the people who went to the moon,” he added.
When Walling enlisted in the Army Sept. 2, 1941, he was told that he would never serve overseas due to spots on his lungs caused by Valley Fever that was attributed to living in Casa Grande, Ariz. growing up. Despite being told he would never serve overseas, he did, once serving under General George S. Patton. “I crossed the ocean at least five times,” he said.
Walling’s dedication and love for his country still runs strong in his veins. “I love my country and would serve right now except I can’t walk anymore,” he said.
Walling attributes his long life to healthy living. “I don’t smoke and I never drank,” he said. “I did smoke when I was younger but quit when I was stationed in France. We were sleeping in a barn with bales of hay in it and one morning I woke up and lit a cigarette only to start coughing hard. Right then and there I decided that it wasn’t worth it and never smoked another cigarette,” he added.
“He has the strongest will power of anyone I know,” caretaker Laura Slye said.
Walling is quite healthy with the exception that he has trouble walking without the aid of a walker and only a couple of years ago, at 93, quit driving. “I haven’t driven a car since I was 93. My license expired on my birthday and I never bothered to renew it,” he said.
Living to be 95 is quite an accomplishment, but it is an accomplishment that is also tinged with sadness. “Almost all of my buddies are gone,” he said.
Walling currently lives in his Worland home with around-the-clock caretakers. He has outlived his sister who was seven years older than him, three wives and his only child and her husband. “I refuse to move into a nursing home,” he stated.
