The fighting in Europe was a far cry from "clerkin" at Watsonville's Busy Bee Market.

Cecil O. Fry was born on August 26, 1908, in Missouri, to Mr. and Mrs. Newt C. Fry. His siblings included a brother Floyd, and four sisters Hazel, Doris, Dorothy and Clara. Later the family moved to Watsonville where he completed grammar school. Watsonville High School lists Cecil among their former students; however, enlistment records suggest that his secondary education was brief.

After leaving school, Fry was employed for a short period as a clerk at the Bumblebee Market in Watsonville and later worked as a farm hand.

Cecil Fry was inducted into the US Army in San Francisco as a private on July 15, 1943. He completed basic and advanced training at Camp Wolters, Texas, before being assigned to the 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division. After joining that unit, he was sent to Italy.

"In May the Division broke out of the beachhead [Anzio] and drove on to Rome, and then went into training for the invasion of Southern France. On 15 August 1944, another D-day, the Division landed at St. Tropez, advanced up the Rhone Valley, through the Vosges Mountains."

During the action that occurred on August 15, 1944, Private Cecil O. Fry was killed in action. His remains were later returned to the United States and interred in the Golden Gate National Cemetery at San Bruno on November 8, 1948.

(NARA2; USDVA; WRP September 20, 1944 1:6, 3rd Infantry Division, The Third Infantry Division in the World Wars, http:// warchronicle.com/units/US/3rd/combat.htm, [16 September 2008])