“Where did we get such men?"

This poignant question is asked by the Admiral in James A. Michener’s epoch war story about carrier pilots and men of the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, The Bridges At Toko Ri. While this quotation has come to remind many of us of the sacrifice and contributions many young Americans made for our country during that conflict, I have often remembered it as I review the numerous contributions of Delta Chi's who have fought for and defended our country during World War II.

America's experience and the reactions of its young men during World War II has been the source of numerous very popular books lately. The key ingredient of the generation of Americans who fought for our country is now seen as mysterious and hard to define qualities. These same qualities are being revisited and popularized on the "big screen" by such movies as "Saving Private Ryan." I originally wrote this tribute about Alex for The Delta Chi Quarterly because we are fraternity brothers. I pointed out other that they do not have to look to popular fiction to see such men. Our Fraternity, like our country, was blessed with many such fine young men fifty years ago. Alex is but one who I have been fortunate to meet and share some of his memories personally.

Recently, I was able to review the 1940 through 1946 volumes of The Delta Chi Quarterly which provide a chronicle of our Fraternity’s contributions in the defense of our country during that great crusade—both in the Atlantic, European and Pacific campaigns. Reading the many notes, letters and quotations about Delta Chi’s who served their country is cause for a great deal of pride and I want to bring some of those contributions back into view. I have long held those who serve in our Armed Forces in high regard and attempted to honor their service and dedication. It is the source of great pride as a Delta Chi to know the young Delta Chi’s who came before us in our Fraternity. Their sacrifices have figuratively given us the opportunity to enjoy our lives and much of the freedom we enjoy today. The war years issues of our Quarterly are literally filled with many stories about Delta Chi’s who left their undergraduate and post graduate college lives to serve our country. It provides a vivid and often sad commentary about their trials, heroism and ultimate contributions in our country’s struggle to defend itself during World War II. I would like to share some of those contributions with you. It is important to recall their efforts for our country and to remember their efforts to gain a better sense of the contribution which our Fraternity has made in the life of our Nation’s history.

One such Delta Chi was a young man from our DePauw Chapter, Alexander Vraciu. In case his name is new to you, it is because he is now retired and living quietly in the rolling hills east of the San Francisco Bay Area. Life wasn’t always quiet nor peaceful for Alex. Even as an undergraduate, Alex was often the center attraction at the DePauw Chapter. In one incident, which later may have seemed like a precursor to his Navy experiences, Alex was the center attraction in a get-even prank on the professor during one of Professor Fay's psychology classes. During a slight lull in the lecture, to the complete consternation of both the professor and his fellow classmates, Alex got up stating, "I can't stand this any longer" and jumped through an open window. An article in the Quarterly reported "Vraciu 'cracked' under the strain of the final and leaped out a second story window. Coeds screamed and the shaken professor and the class rushed to the window. They found Vraciu sitting in a tarpaulin held by his Delta Chi fraternity brothers." While flying in the Navy, once during a stateside training flight and once during the Pacific campaign, he twice was to successfully jump from Navy aircraft.

Like many of his contemporaries, he saw the war coming and obtained his private pilot's license under the government's Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) program at Muncie, Indiana, during the summer vacation between his junior and senior years. Following his university graduation in 1941, this East Chicago, Indiana native entered the service as pilot candidate just before Pearl Harbor and our entry into the war. He proudly received his wings as a Naval Aviator on June 24, 1942. Various notes in the Quarterly pointed to his early World War II training as a Naval Aviator and he was to fly the premier fighter off Navy carriers in the Pacific, the Grumman F6F Hellcat. Alex finally got to the fleet and served in Fighting Squadron Six (VF-6) in early 1943 and was fortunate to have one of the Navy’s legends as his squadron commanding officer, LCDR “Butch” O’Hare. Many of you will recognize the O’Hare name, both as one of the Navy’s early Medal of Honor recipients during the WW II Pacific campaign and as the name of one of the world’s busiest airports, O’Hare Field near Chicago. It was while flying as section leader in LCDR O'Hare's division on October 5, 1943, that Alex scored his first aerial victory over a Japanese "zero" at Wake Island. By mid February, 1944, his record of enemy aircraft shot down had climbed to 9. By any standards, his success as a naval aviator and having served aboard two torpedoed carriers had earned him a well deserved rest and rotation to the States. However, characteristically for LTJG Vraciu, he requested continued combat area assignment to another carrier squadron, VF-16 aboard the USS Lexington when VF-6 was returned stateside.

It was during this carrier duty with VF-16, in what was later popularly labeled as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot," that his best known exploits were to occur. On earlier flights he had brought his total victories to 12 enemy aircraft. But on June 19, 1944, Alex achieved the almost unbelievable -- he shot down six aircraft in eight minutes in a single mission. The next day brought his final confirmed 19th kill. His personal achievements added to one of the most noteworthy victories at "The First Philippine Sea Battle." Alex became the Navy's top ranking “ace” for four months ending the war as the Navy's fourth highest scoring ace. In addition to his 19 aerial victories, he had destroyed 21 enemy aircraft on the ground.

But his war effort did not just end at that point. After rotating stateside for a few months, he talked his way back out into combat. On December 14, 1944, while strafing over Luzon Island in the Philippines, Alex aircraft was struck by anti-aircraft fire and he was forced to parachute safely from his damaged aircraft. He was subsequently reported as "missing in action," but Alex was neither "missing" nor was he "not in action." He succeeded in evading capture by Japanese ground forces with the help of USAFFE Filipino guerrillas and spent the next five weeks with them awaiting General MacArthur's promised landing. Though he had grown a beard and let his normal well groomed Naval attire slip a bit, he was happy to eventually meet with the advancing Americans who had landed at Lingayen Gulf leading his 180 man guerrilla group, he was identified as a naval aviator and returned to the Navy off Luzon, sporting a Luger and carrying a Japanese sword.

Alex continued his career in the Navy and served as a test pilot at the Naval Aviation Test Center in Patuxent River, Maryland, with assignments at the Naval Post Graduate School and various shipboard and shore assignments. He was also rewarded with what he considered his ultimate desire, that of command of his own fighter squadron, VF-51. It was during that tour of duty and his flying in the Navy's 1957 Naval Air Weapons Meet, that he won the High Individual Air-To-Air Competition, outshooting all Naval and Marine Corps pilots for the honor.. In his congratulatory message, the Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet commented "Congratulations on being Top Gun in jets in peace as you were with Hellcats in war."

For his services on behalf of our nation, Alex Vraciu was awarded the Navy Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross with two gold stars, Air Medal with three gold stars and numerous other awards. One of the highest honors bestowed on Alex was his recommendation for the Congressional Medal of Honor for "special achievement and outstanding acts of services: throughout a given period in June, 1944. The citation enumerated four separate missions totaling eight enemy aircraft shot down, a large ship sunk, and materially assisting our bombers in the sinking of an enemy aircraft carrier while escorting our bombers on a record long-range strike against the Japanese battlefleet. All five on-the-scene Naval Commanders strongly recommended approval of the medal, but a reviewing armchair admiral at headquarters, Pearl Harbor, inexplicably downgraded the award recommendation to a Navy Cross. Comparing the squadron recommendation with the final approved version, it could be noted that one of the four flying missions was deleted and the Navy even listed the wrong fighter squadron and wrong aircraft carrier. So much for an incredible standard or review for evaluation of the Nation's highest award!

In 1947, the Navy Department Board of Review for Decorations and Medals, on its own, tried to "right-the-wrong" after becoming aware of the Navy's inconsistencies in WW II in the awarding of Congressional Medal of Honors to fighter pilots--10 for the Marine Corps and only 2 for the Navy. It also called attention to the fact that the majority of the fighter pilots received the CMH, for acts performed either in a single combat or throughout a given period, for only four or five planes destroyed. Resubmission to the senior admiral--presumably out of Naval courtesy--again was returned unfavorable in spite of earlier Navy precedent and the additional "strongest possible" recommendations by two more firing-line Task Force Commanders involved in the First Philippine Sea Battle. The senior member of the above Post-war Board of Review stated after the Board was dissolved that he did not concur with the admiral and felt that an injustice may have been done in this instance. In 1990, a subsequent strong effort was mounted by an Indiana businessman and historian and a Congressman to see the navy's earlier error corrected, but the Navy again backed away from the issue hoping that it goes away.

Along the way, Alex Vraciu and his exploits have become a well-known part of Naval Aviation history and the stories of his action in the Pacific are in almost every book about World War II. Two F6F Hellcat aircraft are currently memorialized in flying museums with Alex's name and personal markings on them--one at the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston, Texas, and the other, surprisingly, at Duxford, England, as part of the Fighter Collection of the British Imperial War Museum. Of particular interest in the later Hellcat is the fact that seven of Alex's first nine victories were actually in the cockpit of that aircraft.

Following his outstanding naval career and retirement as a Commander, Alex retired in the San Francisco Bay Area and entered into a second career in commercial banking, as Trust Officer for Wells Fargo Bank, retiring a second time in 1983. He and his wife Kay have a beautiful home in the foothills in Danville, California. They are also the proud parents of five children and nine grandchildren.

There are many Delta Chi brothers whose lives and actions in the defense our country deserve our recognition and thanks. They have served our country, and set fine examples for all members of The Delta Chi Fraternity.

The qualities Alex Vraciu exemplifies are those of courage, dedication and leadership. These are also the essence of the qualities The Delta Chi Fraternity fosters and develops in its members. Certainly few men have more clearly demonstrated these qualities than Alex Vraciu, DePauw University Chapter, Class of 1941.

Alex Vraciu is truly an American Hero in every sense of the word and an American we can all be proud of. Thanks Alex!