J. GRANT FRYE 1929

HISTORY OF THE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE

J. GRANT FRYE
1929 - 1930

J. Grant Frye, fourteenth prosecuting attorney, was born in Stoddard County on October 27, 1897, and dropped out of Bernie High School in 1917 to join the Marines in World War I. He fought in several major battles and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (America's second-highest combat medal for valor), the Croix de Guerre (with Bronze Star) and the Navy Cross. When he returned from war he took an examination to complete high school, and graduated from State College and the University of Missouri law school in 1922. He was active in the American Legion and in 1934 was elected state commander. He served one term as prosecuting attorney. He was the Republican nominee for Missouri Attorney General in 1936. In 1940 he campaigned unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for Governor. On January 13, 1956, he was killed in a car wreck in Columbia, Missouri.