Frances Lee Landis Trapp scrapbook on the United States Naval Women’s Reserve (WAVES)

Frances (Fran) Lee Landis was born in Deshler, Henry County, Ohio on 11 October 1921. Her parents were Milford Leon Landis (1898-1975) and Esther Witham Landis (1896-1975) who married on 8 May 1920 in Polk, Iowa. Milford attended Muhlenberg College (Allentown, Pennsylvania) and Ohio State University where he received the LL.B. degree in 1924. He taught music at Central High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma and at the University of Tulsa before settling in Van Wert, Ohio by 1935 where he was the legal counsel for Central Mutual Insurance Company. Esther also was a musician and taught part time. Frances had one sister, Grace Joanne Landis Toms (1923-1980).

Frances graduated from Van Wert High School in 1939 and matriculated at Ohio State University in the class of 1944. On 22 December 1942 she enlisted in 1 or WAVES, and in February 1943 began basic training at Hunter College in New York City. Assigned to Atlanta (Georgia) Naval Air Station in April 1943 to be an instructor for the Link Instrument flight simulators; assigned to Bunker Hill Naval Air Station in Indiana in summer of 1943; transferred to Quonset Point Naval Air Station in Rhode Island for celestial navigation training in July 1944; assigned to Naval Air Station San Diego (California) in August 1944. Her last assignment was to Naval Auxiliary Air Station Brown Field in Chula Vista, California, from August until October 1945. She was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy on 12 November 1945.

Frances married Richard Carr Trapp (1919-1945) on 16 June 1943 while she was stationed in Atlanta. Richard had lived in Van Wert, Ohio, and likely met Frances in high school from which he graduated in 1937; he also attended Ohio State University. His parents were Weber Carr Trapp, D.O. (1889-1976) and Lulu Holbert Trapp (1888-?). Richard was employed by the Curtis-Wright Aircraft Co. in Columbus, Ohio before joining the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1944. Sergeant Trapp was assigned to the 457th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force in England where he was a waist gunner in a B-17. He was listed as missing in action over Germany on 16 February 1945, but not officially reported as killed in action until mid-November 1945.

Frances married Leroy Ledene Hanson (1918-1976) in December 1945. They met while they were both on active duty at Naval Auxiliary Air Station Brown Field. Leroy was discharged from the U.S. Navy in April 1946, and they remained in California, ultimately living in San Juan Capistrano. They had three children: Mark Alan Hanson (1946-2008), Nicole Lee Hanson (born 1948) and Gary Leroy Hanson (born 1950). Frances died in San Juan Capistrano on 8 July 1988.