Memorial Day Will Be Different This Year

by

Special to United Methodist Insight | May 21, 20025

Memorial Day will be different for Donald Willis this year, when he visits the grave of the uncle for whom he was named. Donald K. Frye, of the village of Loyd, in Richland County Wisconsin, was killed in action in France, in September 1944, four years before his nephew, Don, was born.

In September, 2024, Don Willis visited the battlefield where his Uncle Donald gave his life. When asked about his feelings that day, Willis said, “It was unimaginable that this beautiful farm field was the scene of such a horrible conflict. Uncle Don was one of hundreds involved in that battle and I am sure it was utter chaos. The 317th infantry was attacking the German post on the top of the ridge east of this field and our boys had to make this advance over an  open ground under heavy fire. I can't imagine the anxiety they had to have felt as well as the pain of severe injuries....”

After he returned Willis wrote about the experience in a Christmas letter to family and friends:

“Our trip was long planned to follow the footsteps of my namesake and uncle, PFC Donald K. Frye, my Mother’s older brother. We were so fortunate to have a great guide, Mike Grams, who is well connected in Eastern France where he was born. His friends, Christophe and Emil Wilvers, are military re-enactment enthusiasts. When we met them in Mecrin, they were wearing US Army WWII period uniforms. Christophe even had the 80th division shoulder patch on his shirt sleeve.

“Christophe and Emil led us from Mecrin to Ponta Mousson to Dieulouard to Loisy to St. Genevieve to Ville au Val to Bratte to Faulx to Sivry to Moivrons to Andilly. All of these village names were recognized from researching Uncle Don’s military records of the 2nd Battalion of the 317th Infantry. This tour day was on Monday, September 24, 2024, 80 years to the day when Uncle Don was injured in the Battle of Moivrons that occurred between Sivry and Moivrons.

“You can imagine the emotion we felt when we walked on the field of battle. The anxiety Uncle Don had to feel; the fears and hopes held by his parents, his wife, his brothers and sisters. Maybe consolation for his sacrifice is the gratitude expressed by the French citizens of these villages who were freed by the 317th Infantry of the 80th Division.”

Willis said he was touched that, 80 years later, the local people still expressed heartfelt thankfulness: “The French people in the small towns that were freed from the occupying Germans remain grateful to the Americans and review this history with the succeeding generations. It went a long way to help justify the lives lost by Uncle Don and so many others.”

Willis told me that he “spent lots of time researching Uncle Don's past. His 'V mails' were very interesting and you could sense the trepidations he had about joining into the conflict. The family received no additional V mails after he was transferred from the 38th replacement Battalion to the 80th division. It was only 10 or 11 days between his transfer and the time of his death.” Willis added, it was clear from the V mails that “Uncle Don was a Christian and he prayed for the war to end and for his new wife and family not to fear for his safety.”

They were not able to bring Donald Frye’s body home for burial until after the war in April 1949. The inscription under an etching of the US flag on his tombstone, in the large Frye section of Concord Cemetery in Willow Township, Richland County, Wisconsin, reads, “Donald K. Frye, 1923-1944, Co. G. 317th INF. 80th Div. Killed in Action in France, ‘Glory Lights the Soldier’s Grave.’”

Donald Willis told me he had plans to visit his uncle’s grave this week with “a couple of friends from the Association of the United States Army (AUSA). They will accompany me to Ithaca High School to present two Donald K. Frye Awards to seniors enlisting in the United States Armed Forces. We have two people receiving the award, one joining the Marines and one joining the Army. They will each receive a plaque and a $1,000 stipend presented in memory  of Uncle Don.”

Another nephew of Donald Frye, Mark Miller, told me that his uncle eloped to Elkader, Iowa, with his sweetheart, Velma Parduhn on June 13, 1944, the day before he headed overseas on the HMSS Queen Mary. Velma, who later married Bobby Shaw in 1947, died August 31, 2024 in DeForest, Wisconsin at the age of 100.

Don Willis, a 1966 graduate of Ithaca High school in Richland County, Wis., received a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1971. Willis worked as international director of sales for the Falk Corporation of Milwaukee and later for Rexnord Corporation before retiring in 2007. Don and his wife, Shirley, reside in Menomonee Falls, WI. They have two children and two grandchildren. Through them, PFC Donald K. Frye’s legacy lives on.

John Sumwalt is a retired United Methodist pastor and the author of “Shining Moments: Visions of the Holy in Ordinary Lives.”