Disabled Veteran Begins Cross-Country Glider Flight

A disabled Vietnam veteran started his quest Sunday to become the first person to glide a sailplane across the United States in a journey being attempted for more than historical reasons.

Terry Frazier, who lost both legs in combat, hopes to raise nearly $50,000 in pledges during his three-week odyssey, money to help maintain the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.

“I think the Vietnam memorial is one of the most important monuments we have. It’s an opportunity for people to heal about the war and come to grips with their feelings about Vietnam,” Frazier said.

“It also removes the war and the veterans who died there from the political aspect. When you go there . . . you just relate to the men who died, and I think that’s real healthy.”

Started from Brown Field

Frazier, who hopes to average about 200 miles a day, began his journey with help from a tow plane that lifted his glider off the runway of Brown Field in San Diego.

He has planned his 2,500-mile trip along a less mountainous southern route that will end May 19 in Kitty Hawk, N.C., the birthplace of aviation.

He then will glide his 15-foot long sailplane, the “Eagle,” back to the Charlotte Motor Speedway, landing inside the race track grounds, to deliver the starting flag for the May 22 Winston Cup NASCAR stock car race.

“I’m not real concerned with whether I accomplish being the first person to fly (a glider) the entire distance, I’m in it for the challenge of making the flight,” said Frazier, 41, an English professor at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

“But it would be fun to fly all the way across the country then land at the spot where the first glider flew.”

Others have tried similar flights, but each was forced to complete part of the trip by hauling their sailplanes on a trailer.

Frazier, a nationally ranked sailplane competitor, has conducted one soar-a-thon a year to benefit charity since taking up the sport six years ago. This is his first transcontinental attempt, however, and the purpose makes it even more special.

Part of Monument

“Every veteran I know who is still alive feels he’s part of that Vietnam monument,” said Frazier, who lost his legs in a 1967 morter attack that took the lives of six of his buddies and wounded 18 others.