Veterans column: 'Sonny' Wright joins Air Army Corps after Pearl Harbor
Frederick Wehrle Wright was born on Dec. 3, 1921, to Frederick Fleek and Mary Elizabeth Wright and was baptized at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Newark. Since the newborn's paternal grandpa was also named Frederick, the family referred to the third Frederick as “Sonny.”
The Wrights purchased a home at 529 Central Ave.. In 1927, when Sonny was just 5 years old, his maternal grandfather Louis Carl had eaten dinner with the family at their home. When he left, he crossed Central and was struck by a car and hit his head on the curb. Though he claimed he was fine, he died from internal bleeding four days later.
In 1929, when Sonny was 7 years old, his parents divorced and his mother moved with him briefly to Millersport. He was familiar with Millersport, for his Grandmother Wright’s family had a home outside there that they called “Shelter Hall” where he spent many summers.
Sonny’s daughter, Gill, recalls, “His mother’s move into Millersport introduced Sonny to a lifelong love of Buckeye Lake where he, eventually, purchased a small island with the hopes of building a summer retreat. While he continued spending summers at Shelter Hall just outside the village, he thrived in a children’s version of the gentleman’s farmer’s life, falling deeply in love with nature, animals, hunting and fishing. It was there that he developed an interest in drawing, archery, and a possible career in animal husbandry or as a veterinarian.”
Mary then moved to Franklin County. He attended Bexley High School during his freshman year and then transferred to the Columbus Academy. Family members think that the reason his father transferred him was some friends of Sonny’s who lived in Columbus that he knew from summers near Buckeye Lake attended the academy. The other motive his father may have had was that he liked to take Sonny to Wyoming in the fall to go deer hunting and in the spring to go duck hunting, something the academy frowned upon, yet seems to have permitted.
While at school, he ran the mile for the track team and was also on the swim team, where he was known for his diving prowess. Fred, as he was called by all but his family, graduated in 1939 and enrolled in Williams College, but then transferred to Kenyon College when he was recruited for their dive team.
He later transferred to Ohio State University, where he was studying when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. In February, with his father’s encouragement to get into aviation, Fred enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Over the next couple of years, he received training in Miami Beach, Florida; Danville, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee; Montgomery, Alabama; Lafayette, Louisiana; Walnut Ridge, Arkansas; Blytheville, Arkansas; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Pueblo, Colorado, as he learned to be a pilot. By January 1944, his rank had moved to lieutenant.
During this time his mother wrote him and traveled to bases where he stayed. In a letter she wrote on April 17, 1944, she closed it by writing, “You know I’m proud of you – and have so much faith in you. All my love, Mother.”
Two days later, she sent another letter and acknowledged for the first time that he may be sent overseas: “You ought to apply for a 'leave' to 'clean up' and 'finish up' business affairs if you think you’re going overseas — I believe they would grant it. There’s no harm in asking anyhow.”
She was correct, his time for leaving was imminent.
Doug Stout is the local history coordinator for the Licking County Library. You may contact him at 740-349-5571 or dstout@lickingcountylibrary.org. His book "Never Forgotten: The Stories of Licking County Veterans" is available for purchase at the library or online at bookbaby.com and Amazon.com.
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Veterans column: 'Sonny' Wright joins Air Army Corps post-Pearl Harbor
