John V. Fryslie

John Vincent Fryslie was born on February 28, 1916, in Flasher, Morton County, North Dakota to Arthur and Alice “Lucile” Fryslie. Fryslie, who went by his middle name, Vincent, was a twin; his brother, Norman Henry Fryslie, was born on the same date but it is unclear who came into the world first. Fryslie attended high school in Buckley, Washington, where he participated on the debate team, the Future Farmers of American (F.F.A.), Student Council, and the Honor Society, an organization dedicated to students learning how to fly solo. Fryslie also played on the football team and earned his letter during the 1934 season. He began his college experience at North Dakota Agricultural College but transferred to Washington State College (WSC) for the 1936 to 1937 academic year as an Agriculture major. He dropped out after 1937 but returned in 1940. He did not finish his degree and there is no further record of him at WSC after 1940. Fryslie married Nettie Pryor, and together they would have a daughter, Janice Arlene, who was born six months after her father's death. Fryslie registered for the draft on October 16, 1940 when he was living in Pullman and later joined the United States Marine Corps (USMC). He worked as an aerial photographer during the Bougainville campaign, and he reached the rank of Sergeant by the time of his death. On November 28, 1943, Fryslie died in a plane crash near Palmyra Atoll in the North Line Islands in the west-central Pacific Ocean. He was buried at the National Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) in Honolulu, Hawaii and is memorialized on the WSU Veterans Memorial.