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Description

The Fryar Circle (Elmer Fryar Ring) was a US officers´ settlement in Stadtbergen, Germany. From 1953 to 1956, two housing complexes were built there, each with 18 apartments (now 24 apartments each), 76 semi-detached houses, and 9 single-family houses (former general´s houses) arranged elliptically in a park-like environment in a typically American architectural style. This area was named the Fryar Circle. It was not accessible to Germans. Since the departure of the Americans, almost all houses and apartments were sold to German and foreign families by 2002.

Private Elmer Fryar - Namesake of the settlement and Medal of Honor recipient

Elmer E. Fryar (February 10, 1914 to December 8, 1944) was a US Army soldier and recipient of the highest US military honor – the Medal of Honor – for his service in World War II.
At the age of nineteen, Fryar, a native of Denver, Colorado, enlisted in the Army and served for three years. After leaving the Army, he joined the Marines for four years, then returned to civilian life in Lakewood, Colorado, until the US entered World War II. He re-enlisted in the Army and served on December 8, 1944, as a private in Company E of the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division. On that day, he singlehandedly held off an enemy train in Leyte, the Philippines, which tried to flank his company. When he later helped a wounded soldier to the rear, he saw an enemy sniper aiming at his squad leader. Fryar shielded his squad leader by taking the sniper´s gunfire with his body. Despite being severely wounded, he managed to kill the sniper with a hand grenade before succumbing to his injuries. For this act, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor five months later, on May 9, 1945.

Fryar´s body was never recovered. He is listed on the Walls of the Missing at the American Cemetery in Manila, the Philippines.

From: Robert Breuer (n.d.): History. In: Welcome to the Fryarcircle Stadtbergen-Leitershofen. Online available at www. elmer-fryar-ring.de, last checked on April 3, 2024, n.p.