Frank Cutler was born on October 17, 1920, in Lakewood, Ohio. He enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Army Air Forces on January 27, 1942, and was commissioned a 2d Lt and awarded his pilot wings at Luke Field, Arizona, on October 30, 1942. After completing P-47 Thunderbolt training, he was assigned to the 486th Fighter Squadron of the 352nd Fighter Group and deployed with the group to England in June 1943. The group switched to the P-51 Mustang in April 1944, and Capt Cutler was credited with the destruction of 7.5 enemy aircraft in aerial combat plus 3 more on the ground while strafing enemy airfields before he was killed in action on May 13, 1944.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.