Kenneth Fraser Appointed Regional Director of the Office of Emergency Transportation-November 5, 1976

Raytheon Traffic Manager Kenneth G. Fraser Leads Regional Civil Defense Planning

If an emergency strikes the country, transportation will be a crucial concern. One of the experts who will be expediting the flow of traffic is Kenneth G. Fraser of Norwood. Commissioned recently as regional director of the Office of Emergency Transportation, after serving as deputy director for three years, he would be mobilized to head all emergency transportation activities in the northeast region of New Jersey, New York, the New England states and Puerto Rico in the event of a national emergency. Mr. Fraser is part of a little known unit – the National Defense Executive Reserve, operating under the U.S. Department of Transportation. In New England, the U.S. Coast Guard is the area representative of the federal department to which Mr. Fraser reports.

This is a reserve program for selective citizens who have expertise in the field, Mr. Fraser explained. Basically it is a very simple program. We meet a few times a year to keep up on plans and the world situation. If anything should happen, we would be assembled to put the blueprint programs into effect. Service in the executive reserve is voluntary and members may withdraw at any time. Getting into the reserves is not so simple. Volunteers go through an intensive federal screening process before they are accepted. Members of the executive reserve represent all areas of the transportation industry who have recognized executive ability and performance in the upper echelons of their fields. Mr. Fraser has been the general traffic manager for Raytheon Company, at its corporate headquarters in Lexington, since 1960. In his job, he travels extensively and has been around the world twice as he visits such places as Denmark, England, Holland, Norway, Italy, the Middle East and the Far East. Mr. Fraser makes interesting comments as he talks about his travels. He finds it unnecessary to speak a foreign language because English is taught and spoken almost everywhere in the world.

Americanization can be seen wherever he goes, even in the smog that hangs over Saudi Arabia. He and his wife, Barbara, remarked on the fine manners of European children. But Mr. Fraser’s favorite place is home. He likes nothing better than to get back to his comfortable house in Norwood and relax. It’s interesting to travel but this country is the best there is, he remarked. Mr. Fraser is a man who is always on his toes, always aware of the current situation, characteristics that helped put him in the National Defense Executive Reserve. He has an overall view of transportation that will serve him well if there ever is a national emergency – from allocations to priorities, permits and embargoes. He is steeped in plans for emergency preparedness. I feel safer knowing he is involved, his wife said. (Photo by Larry Welsh).

(pictured: KENNETH FRASER of Norwood, recently named regional director of the Office of Emergency Transportation, displays items gathered in his worldwide travels as general traffic manager of Raytheon Company.)

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger