Born in Shreveport, Frank was inducted on February 12, 1943 into the U.S. Army. He entered France through Omaha Beach in Normandy as part of an anti-aircraft unit in the Third Army under Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr. Frank fought in the Battle of the Bulge, including the army's drive to relieve the 101^st Airborne Division that was surrounded by Germans at Bastogne. To ward off frostbite he wrapped his boots in canvas. Frank ended his war at Hitler's mountaintop retreat, Berchtesgaden. He returned to America in November of 1945, and left the service a month later, on December 8.