Private Elmer Fryar, Medal of Honor - One Angel's Incredible Fight on Leyte in 1944

Join 11th Airborne Division historian Jeremy C. Holm as we discover the story of Private Elmer Fryar, a Paratrooper from the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division, whose incredible actions on December 8, 1944 would earn this former Marine the Medal of Honor.

Elmer's story has never been fully told like this before and it is an honor and our privilege to do so. 

This is the story of a national hero, a story that deserves to be told and retold. 

Elmer Edward Fryar was born near Denver, Colorado in 1914 and after serving in the United States Marine Corps, including in the historic 1st Defense Battalion, he would go on to enlist in the United States Army following Imperial Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Elmer would volunteer for America's new airborne arm and was assigned to Company E of the 511th PIR at Camp Toccoa, Georgia in January of 1943 under Lieutenant Colonel Orin D. "Hardrock" Haugen.

Elmer and the 511th PIR would then head to Camp Mackall, North Carolina to join the newly forming 11th Airborne Division, "The Angels", under the command of Major General Joseph May Swing. After over a year of intense stateside training, the 11th Airborne headed for New Guinea for theater training and acclimatization. 

Then, in November of 1944 The Angels sailed for Leyte where they would first face the soldiers of Imperial Japan's 16th and 26th Infantry Divisions in the island's mountains. 

It was here that on December 8, 1944, Private Elmer Fryar went into action, calling in mortar fire and directing the platoon's machine guns before running into enemy fire to rescue a wounded comrade. Then when a group of between 40-50 enemy soldiers moved to flank their position, Elmer Fryar raced to the top of a nearby ridge, alone, and eliminated over 20 of the Japanese with his rifle before being wounded himself. 

Elmer then returned to his help his comrades withdraw when a lone enemy sniper jumped from a group of bushes and leveled his rifle at Fryar's commanding officer. Without hesitating, Private Elmer Fryar leapt in front of the lieutenant and took the full brunt of the enemy's fire. With his last grasp of strength, Elmer pulled a pin on a grenade and threw it at the enemy. 

Private Fryar then asked his fellow Angels to tell his family that he "got a mess of the (Japanese) before they got me."

And he said it with a smile. 

To learn more about Elmer Fryar, you can purchase one of Jeremy's acclaimed books on the 11th Airborne Division in World War II here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C83KT18D

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Down From Heaven Comes Eleven! Airborne All the Way!

PS - We are aware that there were some audio technical glitches in this video and did our best to edit them out and hope they never undermine the story of this great American Paratrooper. We do have a new m

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Down From Heaven Comes Eleven! Airborne All the Way!

Transcript

Hello friends, thank you for joining me.

My name is Jeremy Holm; I am an 11th Airborne historian and the author of three books on the Division: 

WHEN ANGELS FALL: THE 511TH PARACHUTE INFANTRY IN WORLD WAR II 

And the acclaimed series DOWN FROM HEAVEN: THE 11TH AIRBORNE IN WORLD WAR II – VOLUMES 1 and 2.

It has been pretty amazing to hear from readers around the world who are discovering the history of the Angels, but the greatest praise I ever received has been from the very troopers who helped me write these books. 

One told me with tears in his eyes, “Thank you for telling our story. Now the world will know what we did in the war.”

You can find all three books on Amazon and at most book outlets. 

We are currently working on the audio versions, so stay tuned for those in the near future.

I also run two online museums dedicated to the Angels, 511pir.com and 11thairborne.com

If you’d like to support this channel, the best way to do so is through our online store full of airborne books, challenge coins, custom hats, posters, coasters, and a whole lot more. 

Just visit 11thairborne.com/store.

You can also donate online to help our efforts to preserve the history of the Angels and I want to personally thank everyone who has contributed. 

Our most recent donations have gone towards this video with a research trip to Colorado.

Which brings me to the focus of today’s video, Colorado-native Private Elmer Fryar, recipient of the Medal of Honor. 

Whenever men meet in combat, invariably there are a few who display gallantry in the face of the enemy at the risk of their own lives. 

We say they went, “Above and beyond the call of duty,” a phrase that falls far short of this level of courage.

Call it bravery, instinct, or sometimes even fear, but these men and women think first of others and their duty, sometimes to the point of sacrificing their own lives. 

This is the story of one of those American heroes. 

Elmer Edward Fryar was born in what is now Lakewood, Colorado, just outside Denver, to George and Martha Fryar. 

Since Lakewood wasn’t incorporated until 1969, you’ll frequently see Denver listed as Elmer’s place of birth, or even Denver Ward 7.

I recently toured Lakewood while researching the life of Private Fryar and I discovered that Elmer’s birthday gets sometimes gets listed as 1911. 

However, as his draft card correctly states, he was born on February 10, 1914, just a few months before the outbreak of World War I. 

This means that Fryar was not 31 or 32 at the time he earned the Medal of Honor in 1944; he was 30, which still made him the oldest American Paratrooper to receive the Medal in the war.

I did find an article stating that Elmer lived in Oak Creek, Colorado, just south of Steamboat Springs, in 1917, but it was written decades after the war and I’m not 100% on that.

I do know that when Elmer was about fifteen, his family, including his older brother Donald and sister Dorothy, moved to Maple Grove. 

This was around 1926 or 1927.

Elmer’s father George was a boiler maker for the railroad while his mother Martha cleaned the train cars so I’m assuming that’s what instigated the move. 

This changed in 1930 when George became a locomotive engineer and Martha chose to stay home to raise their family.

George’s new job also led to another move for the family, this time to Denver’s 3913 Osecola Street. That could be Ahsecola, I’m not sure.

The Fryar’s old house is still standing today, but of course is a private residence, so if you decide to visit, please be respectful of its current owners. 

After moving to Denver, Elmer began attending the old Prospect Valley school, which provided elementary education for southern Weld County students.

Like the Fryar’s old house, the school building is still there in the town of Keenesburg and is a registered historic landmark. 

Unfortunately, due to time constraints I was not able to take a photo of the schools, so if anyone has one please let me know.

After Prospect Valley, Elmer Fryar attended Wheatridge High School, the old high school, not the new one I drove past a few days ago. 

I wonder how many Wheatridge graduates even know that one of their own is a national hero or if the school has any sort of display up to honor Elmer Fryar’s sacrifice. 

Maybe someone at Wheatridge can let me know.

Now Wheatridge High’s mascot was and still is a Farmer. That’s appropriate since during the years he attended, Elmer worked as a farmer and then at some point also a coal miner.

After graduation, I kind of lose track of Elmer’s whereabouts. This could be when he started working in the coal mines.

One record I found said that the 5' 6", 147-pound Fryar joined the United States Army and served three years between 1932 and 1935. 

I do know that something took him to Ada, Ohio, but I’m still working on what that was. 

Elmer actually lists Ohio and not Colorado as his 1935 residence on the 1940 Census while he was in the Marines.

Yes, you heard me correctly, on June 2, 1937, Elmer Fryar enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and became one of the few and the proud.

One record lists Private Fryar as a Trumpeter First Class in August of 1937 while stationed at California’s Mare Island Naval Shipyard. 

I wasn’t sure what that was, so I looked it up and found that part of his responsibilities would have been to sound calls, give general orders, and perform at funerals and other ceremonies with other musicians.

Elmer was then assigned to serve in the Marine Detachment onboard the USS Colorado in November of 1937 which considering he was FROM Colorado is a pretty cool coincidence.

Of note, a few months earlier, the USS Colorado had been involved in the search for the famous aviator Amelia Earhart who, of course, has never been found.

Commissioned in 1923, the Colorado would see action in the Pacific during World War II, including participating in operations off Leyte in November of 1944, the same month Private Elmer Fryar and the 11th Airborne Division began combat operations on the island. 

Elmer and the Colorado’s Marine detachment would have served as the ship's landing force, manned the ship's weapons and provided shipboard security.

In addition to those duties, in April of 1938 Elmer took his turn serving as a Messman which meant he served food and cleaned tables. 

Then in September of 1938, Elmer and a few other Marines were sent on temporary duty to the Marine’s Rifle Range in San Diego. It was here that his skill with a rifle really began to be known and we’ll get back to that later.

On December 31, 1938, Private Fryar received a Good Conduct Medal and three months later, he and the Colorado took a little cruise down to Guantanamo Bay in March of 1939 for fleet exercises.

Now Elmer Fryar was an excellent Marine in many ways, but to be fully transparent, he was AWOL several times. 

The first time occurred between June 30 and July 6 of 1939. 

Elmer turned himself in on July 7 and spent the next two weeks waiting for transportation to Seattle. 

The USS Brazos sailed for Puget Sound and when Fryar arrived on July 30, well, I’m sure you can imagine the reception he got. 

Private Fryar “received 2 months confinement and $10 loss of pay for 4 months by summary court martial”.

Three months later in October of 1939, Private Fryar missed the boat again. 

When the USS Colorado departed for Puget Sound to celebrate Navy Day, Elmer was not on board and had to catch a ride to Washington on the ammunition ship, the USS Nitro.

I don’t have the full story on either situation, but this time Elmer was fined $10 a month for six months and was threatened with a BCD, or Bad Conduct Discharge at the end of his enlistment if he didn’t keep his nose clean. 

One month later, in December of 1939, twenty-five-year-old Private Elmer Fryar was assigned to America’s new 1st Defense Battalion in San Diego as part of the 5th Field Artillery Battalion’s Battery A.

The 1st Defense Battalion was formed under Lieutenant Colonel Bert Bone and was the first of several 900-man defense battalions that the Corps formed to defend advanced bases in the Pacific. 

We have to remember that this was late 1939, and concern over Imperial Japan’s conquests in the Pacific was mounting, so the Marines devised defense battalions as a counteractive measure.

First Lieutenant Robert Heinl explained "the Marine Corps has devised a sort of expeditionary coast artillery capable of occupying an untenanted and undefended locality, of installing an all-around sea-air defense, and this within three days.”

Basically, a defense battalion could be moved into a strategic location and within three days be ready to defend from amphibious landings or aerial attack. 

Each battalion consisted of three antiaircraft batteries, three seacoast batteries, ground and antiaircraft machine gun batteries, and a team of specialists in administration and weapons maintenance.

Private Fryar’s unit would be sent to defend Johnston, Palmyra and Wake Islands as part of the Rainbow 5 war plan, but Elmer would not go with them. 

We’ll get to why in just a second.

Four months after his arrival, due to their superior marksmanship skills, in April of 1940 Elmer and four other Marines headed to La Jolla for the Western Division Rifle and Pistol Competition. 

The Marine Corps decided to hold their own matches since the Nationals traditionally held at Camp Perry were in limbo that year. 

Remember, this was 1940, and the Army’s Chief of Staff George C. Marshall recommended that due to the rush to reorganize and reinforce America’s military strength, matches not be held since the Army could not provide support personnel. 

Never ones to wait on the Army, the Marines simply organized their own competition, though I am still looking for copies of the results to see how Private Fryar did. 

One month after the rifle and pistol competitions, Elmer Fryar’s enlistment with the Marines came to an end. 

This was May of 1940, and one document I found says that Private Fryar simply left for home a few days early on April 22. 

So, he would not go with the 1st Defense Battalion to the Pacific later that year. 

His enlistment was over and Elmer went back to Colorado where he registered for the draft in his family’s new hometown of Edgewater on October 16, 1940. 

Like his father, Elmer went to work for the Union Pacific Railroad until Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States declared war. 

Answering the call to serve once more, Elmer Fryar re-enlisted in the Army, in Oregon no less, and volunteered for America’s new airborne arm. 

As a result, in January of 1943 Private Fryar was assigned to Company E of the new 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment which was forming at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. 

There Elmer and his buddies became well-acquainted with Mount Currahee’s “three-miles-up, three-miles-down” as well as pushups, sit-ups, morning runs and more.

Elmer’s Easy Company cheered when their buddy Corporal Harry Yazzie, a former wrestler from Thoreau, New Mexico, took part in a race up and down Currahee among the 511th’s NCOs earlier on January 23. 

Corporal Yazzie set a regimental record of just forty minutes, five seconds. 

As a prize, the Diné was awarded $15 cash and a ten-day furlough. Harry, who was already a qualified Paratrooper and had joined the airborne from Fort Bliss’s cavalry units, said of his new comrades in the 511th, “I’m with the swellest group of men and officers in the world.”

Elmer Fryar and Corporal Yazzie were in good hands because Easy Company’s CO was Captain Hobart B. Wade, a pioneer in America’s parachute branch. 

Hobart was a member of America’s historic Original Test Platoon where he served as Platoon Sergeant and was one of the most qualified jumpers in the Army.

And due to his own years of prior military service, Elmer Fryar fit right in within the 511th PIR under the legendary Lieutenant Colonel Orin D. “Hardrock” Haugen. 

I’ll be doing a future video on Colonel Haugen, but this guy was a legend in the early airborne and I wish he received more attention. 

There’s a reason the 511th Parachute Infantry became so elite. 

Colonel Haugen pushed his men as hard as Captain Herbert Zobel did with the 506th’s Easy Company during training but led his Paratroopers like Dick Winters. 

One of his Paratroopers said Colonel Haugen was, “The BEST Regimental Commander… in the whole damn Airborne Command.”

My grandfather’s friend Corporal Wilbur Wilcox of Company D paid Orin the ultimate compliment, saying, “Colonel Haugen was an enlisted man’s officer.”

So, stay tuned for a video on Colonel Haugen. 

Let’s get back to Elmer Fryar. 

The fact that Elmer Fryar even made it into the 511th PIR says a lot about him since Colonel Haugen set extremely high acceptance standards. 

There’s a reason his men started calling him The Hard Rock of Toccoa. 

Out of 12,00 volunteers, Hardrock Haugen only accepted 3,000 of them and those were the ones who passed the initial physical and mental tests. 

That number would be further whittled down to about 2,100 so you can see, Colonel Haugen truly wanted the 511th Parachute Infantry to be the best of the best.

And Hardrock’s troopers would the first to tell you… they were the best.

Elmer’s regiment soon headed for what would become known as Camp Mackall, North Carolina where they joined America’s new 11th Airborne Division under Major General Joseph May Swing which activated on February 25, 1943.

Swing was another legend in the airborne community, and we’ve put together Part 1 of the General’s story in a video which I’ll link in the description below. Part 2 is in the works.

A few months later the entire 11th Airborne participated in Camp Mackall’s official dedication on May 1, 1943. 

Named after Paratrooper Private John “Tommy” Mackall who died in Algeria during Operation Torch, Camp Mackall was the foundation that the 11th Airborne built itself on under General Swing’s leadership. 

A few weeks after the dedication, Elmer Fryar’s E Company went to Fort Benning's Jump School where the former Marine became a full-fledged Paratrooper.

The 511th was so well trained by Colonel Haugen that the entire regiment skipped Phase A, or the first week, and not a single trooper in the 511th refused to jump during their stay.

The regiment returned to Camp Mackall where they wore their Jump Wings and boots with pride and continued to look down on everyone else in the division. 

They underwent long marches, classes, field exercises and plenty of maneuvers, including the historic Knollwood Maneuvers during December of 1943. 

This is where the 11th Airborne proved that an airborne division could successfully be deployed and resupplied by air which, in a nutshell, saved the airborne as we know it. 

We’ve got a video in the works about these maneuvers; I should just say, we have a LOT of videos in the works so make sure you like this video and subscribe to our channel to receive future updates.

While at Camp Mackall, Elmer’s E Company underwent Preliminary Rifle Instruction (PRI) before practicing firing on the Transition Course and learning to execute “snap shots” at the Close Combat Range. 

They were reminded that their rifles were life itself and Private Fryar and Easy Company demonstrated their understanding by earning a 100% qualification rating.

On January 1, 1944, the entire 11th Airborne Division traveled to Camp Polk, Louisiana for more training, maneuvers, and final inspections by the War Department.

By now, Elmer and his fellow troopers were tired of waiting around and were ready to get into the fight overseas. 

My grandpa 1st Lieutenant Andrew Carrico of Company D said, “The officers and enlisted men alike were hyped to an extreme degree, anxious to get into battle after all the months of training and preparation.”

Their wish was granted and on May 2, 1944, Elmer’s regiment disembarked from Camp Stoneman, California, destination unknown.

The entire 511th PIR sailed onboard the SS Sea Pike, a merchant marine ship which the Paratroopers came to hate due to the bad food, crowded conditions and a crew which frequently stole things from their bags and bunks.

I’ve always wondered what Elmer Fryar thought of being onboard the Sea Pike after serving on the USS Colorado with its professional crew. 

Everyone in the 511th was relieved when they disembarked on New Guinea and traveled inland to the old airfields at Dobodura. 

Here the 11th Airborne underwent theater training for several months, including learning how to fight the Japanese from veteran Australians as well as native Papuans who, by the way, were paid a bounty for bringing in the ears of Japanese soldiers they had killed.

While on New Guinea, since there were no bars or shops to frequent, General Swing’s troopers excelled at stealing from nearby units which ironically added evidence to their nickname, The Angels. 

If you’d like to read more about the Angels’ exploits during their stateside training and while on New Guinea, you’ll want to purchase our book DOWN FROM HEAVEN VOLUME 1 which covers Camp Toccoa through the Leyte campaign.

Which is where Elmer Fryar and the 11th Airborne were sent in November of 1944. 

Initially Leyte was going to be a stopping point on their way to Luzon, but General Swing talked his superiors into letting the 11th Airborne fight their way over the island from east to west.

Every other Allied unit which had tried this had failed, and as Time Magazine declared on November 20, 1944: 

“The US drive on land slowed down to a walk after it had over-run over 50 percent of the northern half of LEYTE. ORMOC, the key western port where the Japs landed and deployed in a 1-mile semi-circle, could be approached only from the north or south unless US troops attempted to come over the mountains between DAGAMI and JARO, a long difficult pass.” 

The 11th Airborne declared that they could make that “long difficult pass.”

The Angels’ main task was to head into the mountains and destroy Japan’s chief supply line while eliminating the enemy’s 16th and 26th Infantry Divisions.

It was a tough job given to the understrength 11th Airborne, but every trooper I’ve ever spoken with said they knew they could do it. 

As one Angel wrote decades later, “Only troops who had been conditioned the airborne way could live and fight over that weird, virtually impassible, terrain.”

Private Fryar and the 511th were sent to spearhead the division’s cross-island movement and headed up into Leyte’s heights during monsoon season on Thanksgiving of 1944.

Several Paratroopers told me about eating a Thanksgiving breakfast in their mess kits while it poured rain, turning their meal into more of a soup.

Everyone spoke of Leyte as the worst fighting they were involved in, including the 11th Airborne’s bloody battles to liberate Luzon the next year, 1945. 

The 11th Airborne’s Private First Class Erni Bernheim wrote years later, “Actual combat was much fiercer on Luzon, but in my entire military experience, nothing could top Leyte for sheer human misery and endless mud, insects, rain and truly horrendous conditions.”

Throw in the never-ending rain, their near-starvation conditions, the constant enemy banzai attacks and the myriad of tropical diseases, no wonder one paratrooper said, “After Leyte, Hell was a vacation.”

After several weeks of intense combat in these conditions, on December 7, 1944, the 511th’s 2nd Battalion moved westward toward Anas to cut the enemy supply trail which, again, was one of the Paratroopers’ main goals. 

You can see a photo of the Japanese supply line here.

After two attempts to push the Japanese off a nearby hill, 2nd Battalion’s Lieutenant Colonel Norman Shipley ordered a withdrawal to a better position up a nearby ridge to reform their lines for another assault. 

Several Angels said that is where they should have been in the first place, but that’s an argument for another day.

Colonel Shipley also ordered Elmer Fryar’s Easy Company to cover the battalion’s extraction, but as dawn broke on the morning of December 8, the Paratroopers were woken up by Japanese machine guns firing over their heads. 

With bullets zipping through the banana trees, the Paratroopers calmly considered it “a normal morning Banzai attack” and just went to work.

As one trooper declared, “There was no call for anyone to do anything but sit in his foxhole and shoot along previously planned lanes of fire.”

Private Elmer Fryar, however, went above and beyond. 

He began by calling in mortar bombardments to break up the first Banzai charge then directed E Company’s machine guns to inflict further damage. 

Because Fryar was directing those guns, some accounts mistakenly state that he was firing one himself. He was not; Elmer was using his M-1 Garand with deadly effect.

I’m not surprised by Fryar’s actions at this point because remember, when he was a Marine, Elmer was assigned to the 1st Defense Battalion whose main purpose was to defend advanced bases or strategic locations against enemy attacks, specifically Japanese attacks like this one, utilizing available resources. 

It was a day when Marine and Airborne training combined to make a tremendous difference.

During the firefight, an E Company sergeant was hit in the head, and the dazed Paratrooper began staggering blindly right towards the enemy line. 

Private Elmer Fryar jumped up from his position behind a fallen log and rushed out to haul the stumbling Angel back to safety while Japanese snipers fired on them both. 

Elmer then bandaged the wounded Angel’s head before a medic came to take over. 

When the enemy’s first attack faltered, partially due to Private Fryar’s quick thinking, a withdrawal to 2nd Battalion’s main position was ordered and got underway. 

The thing is, the Japanese decided to move at the same time. 

Badly wounded by an enemy grenade, Tech-5 Neal Retherford of Wadsworth, Ohio, who was near Fryar when the Japanese attacked said, “Fryar was (now) on the extreme right and he yelled and pointed out that the Japanese were trying a flanking movement. There were between 40 and 50 of them.”

With E Company partially withdrawn, Elmer knew they were strung out and the enemy movement could spell disaster. 

He quickly moved to the top of a nearby ridge, alone, and opened fire with his rifle. Remember, Private Fryar had competed in Rifle Competitions in the Marines and was known for his skill and as General George S. Patton declared that the Garand was “The greatest battle implement ever devised.”

F Company’s Lieutenant Ralph Ermatinger agreed, saying, “An enemy struck by the Garand’s fast-traveling bullet went down as if struck by lightning, and the carnage effected on his body was appalling…”

First Lieutenant Norvin L. “Stinky” Davis, who was there during the enemy’s attack later testified that, “Around the position where Private Fryar had engaged the flanking attack, we found the bodies of 26 Japanese he had killed and evidence that the survivors had carried others away.”

This is a war bond-drive comic that appeared in newspapers across the country in August of 1945 that portrays Elmer Fryar’s actions that December morning.

Other newspapers across the nation wrote that, “(Fryar) fired fast and accurately. But he was drawing all the enemy fire on himself. During the fight he was hit in the left arm (so just above his tattoo) and shoulder, but that didn’t stop Fryar.”

Neal Retherford added:

“Fryar… took up his position to cover the withdrawal of the rest of the company. There was a lot of firing and soon he came back and found me. He put a tourniquet on my arm and leg while the lead was flying all around us. He said he got plenty of (the flanking Japanese) … about half of them, anyway.”

Remember, Neal Retherford was from Wadsworth, Ohio, which is only two hours east of Ada, Ohio where Elmer Fryar spent a few years in the mid-30s and I’m sure these two Angels spent some time talking about The Buckeye State.

Retherford said that after Elmer had patched up his grenade wounds, “He helped me down the trail and we met the lieutenant leading a wounded man.”

That lieutenant was West Point-graduate and regimental transportation officer 1LT Norvin Davis of Wells, Nevada who had just taken over Fryar’s platoon after 2LT Robert Norris was killed during the enemy attack. 

Remember, E Company was withdrawing to 2nd Battalion’s position, and Lieutenant Davis was assisting a wounded Private First-Class Marvin Douglas of Oakville, Tennessee. 

Douglas said, “I had been nicked by a Japanese .25 caliber bullet and the lieutenant was helping me. As we helped each other down the trail, (a Japanese) jumped up from behind some bushes and aimed his rifle at the lieutenant. The other wounded man (Neal Retherford) and I hit the ground, but Private Fryar moved past us and threw himself in front of the lieutenant.”

So, let’s review. When the enemy attacked, Elmer Fryar immediately began calling in mortar fire and directing the platoon’s machine guns. 

When one of their sergeants gets hit in the head and stumbles towards the enemy lines, Private Fryar jumps up, runs out and brings the wounded Angel back to safety and begins first aid. 

Then, when a group of forty to fifty Japanese soldiers move to flank the withdrawing Paratroopers, Fryar attacks them on his own with his rifle and takes out 26 while wounding others.

He then comes back to help a wounded comrade, while wounded himself, and the two make their way down the trail where they come across Lieutenant Davis and PFC Douglas. 

When a Japanese sniper jumps out of the jungle and aims his rifle at the Lieutenant, Elmer Fryar jumps in front of the Lieutenant as the enemy fired. 

Lieutenant Davis said, “Private Fryar came from behind me and threw himself into the line of fire. There were seven bullet holes in his chest and stomach, but he drew a hand grenade as he fell to the ground and pulled the pin. He threw it and the Japanese was blasted all over the trail.”

It was the twenty-seventh confirmed enemy that Elmer killed that day, or possibly the 28th depending on which account you read. 

However, that number could easily be doubled when you add in the enemy killed by the mortar and machine gun fire which Private Fryar personally directed, plus the Japanese Elmer hit with his rifle who were carried away and possibly died of their wounds. 

Lieutenant Davis added, “(Elmer) died before aid could be brought to him. But as he lay there with a smile on his face, he asked us to write to his folks and tell them he’d got a mess of (Japanese) before they got him.”

The final words of this amazing Angel and former Marine actually were, “Tell my family that I got a mess of Japs before I went out.”

And he said it with a smile, knowing that he was dying.

During his 1981 inaugural address, President Ronald Reagan said, “Those who say that we're in a time when there are not heroes, they just don't know where to look.”

Elmer Fryar was truly a hero whose example of courage and sacrifice and inspiring. 

The day after Elmer’s courageous sacrifice, the 511th PIR’s 2nd Battalion engaged the enemy again in a creek bed and casualties mounted, especially in E Company. The fighting became hand to hand inside the Angels’ perimeter and Leyte’s mud turned red with blood as bayonets, knives, entrenching tools and even helmets were employed to hold the line.

In the end, seven E Company men would be buried in that blood-stained mud. 

So would several troopers from my grandfather’s Company D which fought their way to the beleaguered E Company on December 11. 

Staff Sergeant Wilbur Wilcox said, “We knew E Company was desperate, and so we pushed on against heavy resistance. The Japanese let (our) 1st and 2nd Platoons pass and then opened up on the 3rd Platoon...” 

D Company suffered nine casualties but managed to break through the enemy’s lines and move into chilly foxholes as a relieved (literally and tactically) E Company began their withdrawal under fire as D Company held the line.

Sergeant Wilcox remembered, “The Japanese climbed trees around the area and began picking off the E Company men in their foxholes. (They) threw more grenades that day than any other time I can remember. I believe (E Company) would have been annihilated if we had been unable to reach them.”

Wilcox added that if not for Private Elmer Fryar’s actions on December 8, “I think the whole battalion could have been wiped out.”

Elmer’s comrades never forgot the courage of the Marine-turned-Paratrooper who held the line, alone, then gave his life to save his commanding officer. 

He truly lived up the Marine Corps’ motto of “Semper Fidelis”… “Always Faithful.”

After the battered yet victorious Angels came down from Leyte’s heights on Christmas of 1944, a detail was sent back into the mountains to recover their fallen. 

Unfortunately, none of the Angels who participated in this effort are still with us and Elmer Fryar’s remains were either never recovered, or he has yet to be identified.

At the time this video was recorded, his status with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency was still Missing in Action but he is, of course, a priority for identification.

As such, Private Elmer Fryar is currently listed with over 35,000 of his comrades on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery.

That cemetery is situated on the very grounds that Elmer’s fellow Angels, including Easy Company, would liberate three months after his death, when the Angels helped retake Fort William McKinley and Manila itself.

The decision to put Elmer Fryar in for the Medal of Honor happened quickly and was sent to and quickly approved by Major General Joseph Swing himself who forwarded the packet on for consideration.

In the end, Elmer’s Medal was presented to his parents on May 12, 1945, at the Denver Civic Center during a special 3pm ceremony by Major General Clarence Danielson who commanded America’s Seventh Service Command.

Elmer’s father George said that his son “always loved adventure and he probably was having the time of his life before he was killed on Leyte.”

I mentioned earlier that I visited Elmer’s hometown of Lakewood, Colorado and was able to visit the graves of his parents George and Martha to pay my respects. 

The cemetery recently put a memorial plaque by Elmer’s parents to commemorate his sacrifice.

Of note, George Fryar outlived his son by nearly thirty years. 

He died in 1973 at the ripe old age of 88.

Elmer Fryar’s fellow Angels never forgot their comrade’s valor, especially the Angels in the 511th’s 2nd Battalion. 

On July 19, 1945, the 11th Airborne participated in a review for Sixth Army’s General Walter Kruger. 

Numerous medals were presented, including the announcement of the two Medals of Honor for Elmer Fryar and Manuel Pérez whose story I will tell in a future video.

While the 11th Airborne Division was stationed in Japan for Occupation Duty, on May 3, 1947, they dedicated their new movie theater The Elmer Fryar Theater. 

After the Angels came back home to the states in 1948, the 11th Airborne dedicated Fort Campbell’s Fryar Athletic Field on October 27, 1950.

Then when the 11th Airborne Gyroscoped to Germany in 1956, they renamed a street in Stadtbergen, Germany “Fryar Circle”. 

Known as the Elmer-Fryar-Ring today, this street was lined with housing used by American officers that were stationed in the area.

Today the Fryar Field Drop Zone at Fort Benning, excuse me, Fort Moore, is named for the Angel who stood immoveable and made the ultimate sacrifice.

I wonder how many Paratroopers have dropped on Fryar Field without even knowing the story of Elmer Fryar. 

There is also the Elmer Fryar US Army Reserve Center in Denver, Colorado, Elmer’s hometown. 

And on June 8, 2023, our reactivated 11th Airborne Division dedicated the Fryar Fitness Complex at Fort Wainwright, a beautiful facility where our modern Arctic Angels and their families can work out, go swimming or running, enjoy fitness classes and more. 

These memorials help us remember the service of Private Elmer Fryar, but it is up to us to live worthy of his sacrifice.

One of Elmer’s Division comrades, Kenneth A. Murphy, wrote, “With the passing of time, it is so easy to forget those who sacrificed so much so future generations may be free to enjoy this great country, the United States of America.”

Thinking of all his fellow Angels like Elmer Fryar who gave their last full measure in the service of their country, Regimental Headquarters’ Jack O’Connor prayed, “Dear Lord, I hope that this current generation of young Americans will someday be worthy of the generation of young people who saved my country and kept it free.” 

Amen, trooper. Amen.

Thank you for joining me today. If you’d like to learn more about Elmer Fryar and the 11th Airborne Division, please pick up a copy of our books: 

WHEN ANGELS FALL: THE 511TH PARACHUTE INFANTRY REGIMENT IN WORLD WAR II 

And

DOWN FROM HEAVEN: THE 11TH AIRBORNE DIVISION IN WORLD WAR II – VOLUMES 1 & 2

Be sure to visit our online store for other 11th Airborne merch at 11thairborne.com/store.

There you can pick up one of our wildly popular 11th Airborne challenge coins which serve to honor all the Angels, including Private Elmer Fryar.

As always, Down From Heaven, Comes Eleven! 

Airborne All the Way.