Frank Van Dyke, a Navy pilot in WWII, dies
Frank Van Dyke, a Navy pilot whose World War II exploits earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross, died Wednesday at his Seaford home. He was 90.
Van Dyke, who had suffered from kidney failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in recent months, was a retired officer of Morgan Guaranty Trust in Manhattan and a member of the Seaford Lions Club, his family said.
Enlisting soon after Pearl Harbor, Van Dyke flew the Navy's Privateer long-range bomber in missions over Japan, China and the Aleutian Islands, said his son Peter Van Dyke, 57, of Massapequa Park.
The citation for Van Dyke's Distinguished Flying Cross noted his "heroism and extraordinary achievement in aerial flight" in May and July 1945. Van Dyke destroyed or damaged Japanese ships, train locomotives, a railroad tunnel, a bridge and a lighthouse, the citation said.
Frank E. Van Dyke II was born in Queens on a 99-acre farm where Bayside High School now stands. His family moved to a house in Flushing when he was young.
Because his father died when he was a teenager, "he had to go straight to work to help support his mother," Peter Van Dyke said.
The elder Van Dyke, who never attended college, worked before the war as a messenger at Morgan Guaranty. He returned to the company after the war and rose to become an officer in the investment banking area during a 45-year career at the firm, his son said.
Soon after returning home from the war, Van Dyke married Mildred Sengelaub, who had grown up in his Flushing neighborhood. She died in 1997.
The couple moved to Seaford in 1953 and Van Dyke joined the Lions Club, which he served as president and treasurer. For years, Van Dyke picked up donated eyes at local airports and carried them in a cooler to the Lions Eye Bank of Long Island, his son said.
In addition to his son Peter, Van Dyke is survived by another son, Frank III, known as Skip, of Fort Salonga; a daughter, Jeanne Pita, of Bellevue, Wash.; and five grandchildren.
Visiting hours are 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Charles G. Schmitt Funeral Home in Seaford. A funeral will be held 10 a.m. Monday at Massapequa Reformed Church, with burial to follow at Calverton National Cemetery.
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