The Work Journalists Should Do

A Biography of Jesse Frank Frosch, VMI Class of 1964 Jesse Frank Frosch was born on September 3, 1942, in Indianapolis, Ind. After graduating from Speedway High School, Frosch decided he didn't want to "do ordinary" and matriculated with the class of '64 at the Virginia Military Institute in September of 1960. Frosch was an English major and never shied away from commitment or hard work. As a Cadet, he was President of the Honor Court, a nationally recognized Distinguished Academic Student, Director of the VMI Commanders, and Editor in Chief of The Cadet newspaper, a role in which he fiercely defended the rights of his peers to exercise their right to free speech. He was a member of the Dean's list and graduated with honors, ranking second in the English Department. Frosch nobly represented VMI at numerous conferences as well as during his summer abroad at the Austrian Military Academy. Frosch was never afraid to speak his mind, especially when he witnessed injustice or hypocrisy. As Editor in Chief of The Cadet newspaper, Frosch guided his writers (who he nicknamed his Pharisees) to grow the newspaper, expanding its audience and refining its status as a reputable student publication. For his role as Editor in Chief, he was personally thanked by then Superintendent Major General Shell. Frosch was described by the Executive Officer of VMI's ROTC department as "At ease on his feet" with a "pleasant and agreeable personality." He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army upon graduation in May of 1964. Frosch married his high school sweetheart Sandra Kay, and immediately went on to earn his Master's degree in English at the University of Georgia. In his VMI Bomb First Class history, Frosh wrote about himself: "The end has not yet been told. It has been rumored, however, that there might be two pieces of wood affixed at right angles waiting for him. He has done nothing to avoid this and everything to provoke it." Frosch deployed on active duty to Vietnam as an intelligence officer for a year in 1968. During his time overseas, Frosch earned the Bronze Star, Air Medal, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, the National Defense Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with 3 Bronze Stars, Combat Infantry Badge, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Silver Star, and a Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation. Following his success in the Army, Frosch was called to serve as a reporter for United Press International in 1969. He covered riots in Atlanta and, most notably, wrote an article for Playboy Magazine, detailing the horrific conditions that led to the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam. Frosch argued that the massacre was inevitable given the ignorance and cruelty with which American leadership was willing to operate. Frosch was intimately familiar with the conduct of war in the Quang Ngai province, where the massacre happened, as he had served in the region during the time of the incident. Following the Coup d'etat in Cambodia in March of 1970, Frosch left the United States to report for UPI on developments in Southeast Asia. Frosch acted as chief of the Phnom Penh bureau, reporting in and around the capital of Cambodia from July to October 1970. On the 28th of October, Frosch along with Japanese Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Kyoichi Sawada, left the city of Phnom Penh in a blue Datsun sedan. The two were heading to Chambak, the Cambodian Army's southernmost outpost, which was a distance of 26 some miles, to report on the war. The two would never reach their destination. Around 5:30 that evening, Cambodian troops heard gunshots near their outpost. A patrol was sent out and the wreck of a blue sedan that had been run off the road was found. The car was riddled with bullet holes but there was no trace of its former occupants. Early the next morning a second patrol began searching nearby and came upon the bodies of Frosch and Sawada. Both had been beaten ruthlessly in their faces and summarily shot through their chests several times. The Virginia Military Institute flew her flags at half-staff Friday October 29th. Frosch and Sawada were the sixth and seventh journalists to be killed reporting on the war in Cambodia. Both knew the risks of what they were doing, but their spirits drove them to keep the world informed. Jesse Frank Frosch dedicated his life to selflessness and self-sacrifice. He was a leader to The Cadet newspaper, his fellow cadets at VMI, to his soldiers, and in his country. George Warren III still thinks about his Brother Rat almost every day. "He was really doing the work journalists should do, and he paid for it with his life," Warren said. "He really was my best friend."