‘The paper ... keeps me in touch with my community and nation’
In 1951, James Fraley was on the opposite side of the world from Dayton, treating wounded soldiers in Army hospitals in the Korean War.
One year later, the Kentucky native was planting roots in the Dayton area, became a Dayton Daily News subscriber, and he’s still in Kettering today.
“When I got out of the military, this was the first place I looked,” Fraley said. “Mother and dad were here, so I drove to Dayton, put in my first application at Frigidaire, and that’s where I stuck for 42 years.”
Fraley worked in quality control in plants in Moraine and Dayton as the company shifted focus a few times. He and his wife Hazel raised a family in Kettering and were married for 63 years until she died in 2016.
At 87, Fraley said he’s fairly computer-savvy, but he still prefers to read a printed paper.
“I’m sort of curious what’s happening locally and around the world, and I like to keep abreast of it,” he said. “I have more time to read now at 87 than when I was raising my children. ... Now I have six great-grandchildren. I’m sure they don’t read like I do.”
Fraley was right in the mix of one of the big stories of his youth, working as an operating room technician in Army evacuation hospitals — much bigger
than MASH units — in the Korean War, including one near the famed battle of the Chosin Reservoir.
He said he didn’t often get news sent from home because they were always on the move — setting up the full hospital 17 times in the year and a half he was there.
Almost 70 years later, Fraley said he still likes to follow world news, but keeps up on local stories, too.
“I love the paper, which keeps me in touch with my community and nation,” he said.