Neil Frye joined the U.S. Navy in 1940 at the age of 20, just before being killed during the attacks on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
More than 80 years later, a Black soldier who perished during the attack was finally laid to rest in his hometown of North Carolina.
On Thursday, April 3, Navy Mess Attendant 3rd Class Neil Frye was given full military honors as his remains were returned home and buried at Sandhills State Veterans Cemetery in Spring Lake, North Carolina. The date also marked what would have been his 104th birthday.
The burial was an emotional moment for his family, attended by many of his descendants, including his only surviving sibling, his 87-year-old sister, Mary Frye McCrimmon. Mary was just 3 years old when Neil enlisted, and she shared with WHRO public radio that the family never gave up hope of one day finding him.
“My mom loved to people-watch,” she said. “She would go anywhere she could, just to watch all the men walk by to see if she could spot Neil.”
Frye, who enlisted after his brother joined the military, worked in the Messman Branch—a racially segregated section of the Navy that was responsible for feeding and assisting officers. The branch was almost entirely made up of Black sailors.
“Back then, they didn’t get no jobs. It was all about race,” his sister explained to WHRO. “So they went where they could, but the pay was very little.”
Frye was one of over 2,000 Americans killed during the Pearl Harbor attack, while serving aboard the USS West Virginia. His death contributed to the U.S. entering World War II. His family learned of his passing when a postmaster delivered the sad news to them.
For many years, Frye’s remains were buried in Honolulu at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, alongside other unidentified crewmen from the USS West Virginia.
The search for Frye’s remains began in 2014 when Mary and her family worked with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). In 2017, the remains of 35 unidentified crewmen from the USS West Virginia were exhumed and sent to the DPAA laboratory in Hawaii. Through dental, anthropological, and mitochondrial DNA analysis, the remains were eventually identified as Frye’s.
After a decade-long search, the DPAA confirmed Frye’s identity on September 27, 2023.
Frye’s niece, Carol Frye-Davis that her family has always kept his memory alive, and bringing him home has been both an emotional and beautiful experience.
