35 Facts About Alexander Vraciu

Alexander Vraciu was a United States Navy fighter ace, Navy Cross recipient, and Medal of Honor nominee during World War II.

From 1956 to 1958 Alexander Vraciu led his own fighter squadron, VF-51, for twenty-two months.

Alexander Vraciu retired from the US Navy with the rank of commander on December 31,1963.

Alexander Vraciu later moved to Danville, California, and worked for Wells Fargo.

Alexander Vraciu was born in East Chicago, Indiana, of Romanian immigrant parents.

Alexander Vraciu graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, and began his military career in 1941, when he enlisted in the US Navy.

Alexander Vraciu spent the last few months of the war serving at the Naval Air Test Center in Patuxent, Maryland.

Alexander Vraciu was born in East Chicago, Indiana, on November 2,1918, the second child and only son of Alexandru Sr.

Alexander Vraciu's parents immigrated from Transylvania, Romania at the turn of the century; Alexandru Sr.

Alexander Vraciu earned a four-year scholarship to DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, and graduated with a degree in sociology in 1941.

At DePauw, Alexander Vraciu was active on the school's football, tennis, and track teams, and became a member of the Delta Chi fraternity.

Alexander Vraciu joined the DePauw Tigers football team against his parents' wishes, where he was a backup running back, linebacker, and return specialist during the 1938 season; his football career ended later that year after suffering a knee injury against Evansville.

Alexander Vraciu reported to Glenview Naval Air Station in suburban Chicago for preliminary training as a pilot, and received additional pilot training at Dallas and Corpus Christi, Texas, in early 1942, and in San Diego, California, in 1943.

Alexander Vraciu was designated as a naval aviator and commissioned as a Naval Reserve ensign in August 1942, and promoted at the end of March 1943.

Alexander Vraciu scored his first victory on October 5,1943, when he and O'Hare encountered an enemy formation.

O'Hare flew below the clouds to find a Japanese Mitsubishi Zero and Alexander Vraciu lost sight of him.

Alexander Vraciu followed a second Zero to Wake Island, where it landed, and strafed the Zero on the ground.

Alexander Vraciu destroyed his first Mitsubishi G4M bomber while it was parked on the runway.

On January 29,1944, Alexander Vraciu shot down three Betty bombers, bringing his total number of downed enemy planes to five, achieving status as an ace.

When USS Intrepid returned to Pearl Harbor for repairs in February 1944, Alexander Vraciu had an opportunity to rotate back to the United States, but he preferred to stay in the Pacific and requested additional combat duty.

Alexander Vraciu returned to the United States on leave in August 1944, and was promoted to a lieutenant upon his return to San Diego, California.

Until he received orders for a new combat assignment, Alexander Vraciu made public appearances to promote the US Navy in the United States.

Alexander Vraciu returned to combat in the Pacific in late 1944, flying Grumman F6F Hellcats in VF-20.

Alexander Vraciu parachuted from his plane, landing in the Tarlac province of Luzon.

Alexander Vraciu was rescued by Filipino resistance fighters, who appointed him a brevet major in command of a guerrilla unit.

Alexander Vraciu spent the last few months of the war serving at the Naval Air Test Center in Patuxent, Maryland.

Alexander Vraciu ended the war as the US Navy's fourth highest ranking ace, credited with downing a total of nineteen enemy aircraft and destroying twenty-one on the ground.

Alexander Vraciu was instrumental in forming the post-war Naval and Marine Air Reserve program.

Alexander Vraciu officially retired from the US Navy on December 31,1963, while serving as the public information officer at the Alameda Naval Air Station in Alameda, California.

Alexander Vraciu appeared in "The Zero Killer", during season one, episode six, of the History Channel's Dogfights series.

Alexander Vraciu died on January 29,2015, in West Sacramento, California, at the age of 96.

Historian Barrett Tillman acknowledged that Alexander Vraciu's mild-mannered and easy-going demeanor in his everyday life was atypical of his "steely aggressiveness" in combat.

Ray Boomhower, Alexander Vraciu's biographer, commented that the fighter pilot and wartime hero was straightforward in their discussions, adding that Alexander Vraciu "always gave credit to those who had trained him".

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Commander [then Lieutenant, Junior Grade] Alexander Vraciu, United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Fighter Plane in Fighting Squadron SIXTEEN, attached to the USS.

On 14 June 1944 in the course of a strike against enemy positions in the islands of North of Saipan, Commander Alexander Vraciu sighted an enemy search plane.