On May 14, 1945, it’s more than likely many Denverites were enjoying a movie. As they settled into their seats, the newsreel began:
“Denver, Colorado,” the voice-over intoned. “The Congressional Medal of Honor is presented to Corporal Robert Maxwell in person, and the parents of Private Elmer Fryar receive his posthumous Congressional Medal award.”
The Medal of Honor is the highest award a soldier can earn. It’s awarded for valor in action against an enemy force. And though Fryar fell almost 62 years ago in the Philippines, the Denver native’s citation is a story of extraordinary bravery worth retelling.
During the Battle of Leyte, which began as one of the largest sea battles in history and the scene of some of the first kamikaze missions, Fryar’s battalion encountered a formidably entrenched enemy position. In spite of a continual assault, they were unable to overtake the enemy.
Once Fryar – who couldn’t have been much older than 20 – saw an enemy platoon moving to outflank his company, he “opened heavy and accurate fire.” And though he was wounded, he drove back the enemy by inflicting “a loss of 27 killed” – which, according to some accounts, was more than any other soldier had exacted in any one episode during World War II.
As if that wasn’t enough, as Fryar was withdrawing – and helping a seriously wounded soldier do the same – an enemy sniper appeared and aimed his weapon at the men.
“Private Fryar instantly sprang forward, received the full burst of automatic fire in his own body and fell mortally wounded,” details the citation. “With his remaining strength he threw a hand grenade and killed the sniper.”
Fryar, whose body was never found, was one of 3,500 Allied troops to perish fighting at Leyte. More than 12,000 were wounded. More than all the U.S. casualties in Iraq over two years, lost in one battle.
Around 49,000 Japanese perished.
Maxwell signed up for duty in Larimer County. His Medal of Honor was earned for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty on 7 September 1944, near Besancon, France” fighting the Nazis.
“When an enemy hand grenade was thrown in the midst of his squad, Technician 5th Grade Maxwell unhesitatingly hurled himself squarely upon it, using his blanket and his unprotected body to absorb the full force of the explosion.”
Maxwell was permanently maimed.
Reading through the citations of Coloradans who lost their lives is certainly humbling. They came from all over Colorado, and they died across the world.
Rudolph Rodriguez, a Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient, died in France while his family celebrated Christmas Eve in 1944. He lies inconspicuously in Plot H, Row 10, Grave 82 in a Luxembourg military cemetery.
Private Joe Martinez was from Ault. A Medal of Honor winner, he died in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska – in what is often called the “Forgotten Battle” of World War II – charging “severe hostile machine gun” fire in 1943.
There’s 1st Lt. Donald Pucket, a Longmont native who died over Romania. After his plane was hit during a bombing raid, he “calmed the crew, administered first aid.”
When the plane lost power, he refused to abandon the three hysterical airmen who wouldn’t parachute. Pucket was last seen struggling to regain control of the plane as it crashed into a mountainside.
We’re all busy today having fun with our families and friends. And, yeah, I know you’ve been lectured a million times about remembering the fallen. I’ll save you the finger wagging.
Frankly, I doubt men who threw themselves on a grenade or parachuted into heavily fortified islands would be entirely comfortable with the sentimentality.
Still, after reading about these guys, no one will have to remind me again about pausing for a minute on Memorial Day.
To see more of the Congressional Medal of Honor citations, go to www.army.mil/cmh-pg/moh1.htm.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at 303-820-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
