Roy A. Fry
Some information used in this tribute was extracted from a biography written by Brennan Batien of the Wolsey High School in Wolsey, South Dakota, using information provided by Roy’s sister, Gladys Hainy of Wessington Springs, SD.
Biography: Roy Anthony Fry was born on October 11, 1911, in Wessington Springs, South Dakota. He was one of four children born to William Paul Hawker Fry and Cora May Alderson and attended local schools through the 8th grade. Prior to the war, Roy was working as a farmer.
Service Time: Roy entered the service on March 16, 1942, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. After his basic training, he was eventually assigned to Company C of the 807th Tank Destroyer Battalion. He continued his training with the unit at military facilities throughout the U.S., beginning at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma, for advanced training. The unit then traveled to participate in the Louisiana maneuvers at Camp Polk, Louisiana, in September of 1943. The 807th was then sent to the Desert Training Center in Southern California and Western Arizona and later to Fort Dix, New Jersey, for final preparations for shipment overseas.
While he was stationed at Fort Dix, Roy was hospitalized for Spinal Meningitis and sadly passed away after two weeks on July 30, 1944. At the time of his death, Roy held the rank of Technician 5th Grade. He had served his country faithfully for 2 years, 3 months and 14 days. His body was returned to Wessington Springs and he was buried with military honors in the Prospect Hill Cemetery. I want to thank Paul Stevens for his continued support with this project. Thank you also to Find A Grave contributor “happee_grrl” for use of the grave marker photo.
