Frank Lloyd Pryor was born in Wilson, Oklahoma in January 1926. His father worked as a telegraph operator for a pipeline company. It transported oil from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Illinois. He worked in Lebanon, Missouri. Pryor's father kept that job throughout the depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s], but near the end, he was transferred to a different company facility before he was laid off. Afterwards, he started his own Western Auto Store. Pryor started working for his father when he became old enough. He learned how to build bicycles in the shop. He did that work until he joined the military. A tornado hit the town in April 1942 and it was a bad one. Pryor and his dad watched the storm until a window broke, then they ran for cover. His father was killed during the storm. Pryor ran the store until he received his draft notice. A lawyer tried to get him deferred because he took care of his family. Pryor decided he wanted to join the Marines, so the family sold the store. Pryor wanted to fight the Japanese, and he heard the Marines were doing a good job fighting, which is why he wanted to join the Marines. He saw propaganda posters and he wanted to help end the war. Pryor was in a car when he heard on the radio about the attack at Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. The family did not know what or where it was. The attack was a surprise. His father was surprised and thought he would be drafted. Pryor went to Oklahoma City [Annotator's Note: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma] after he received his draft card. While being interviewed, he heard the Marine Corps was looking for volunteers, so he joined. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1944. He did his boot training at Camp Pendleton [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California] near San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. It took six weeks to finish his training there. While in boot camp, he had a six day furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and was able to go home. He did more training in California, then trained with the artillery in Hawaii. Boot camp was tough. He lost 20 pounds during his time in boot camp. He learned to obey orders and saluted the corporal in charge of the platoon. The trainees obeyed the corporal without question. Pryor was assigned to the 5th Marine Division around the time he traveled to Hawaii. The trip took seven day, and it was exciting. He landed in Hilo, Hawaii and took a train to his tent camp. The unit used 75mm Pack Howitzers [Annotator's Note: M1 75mm Pack Howitzer] and Pryor pulled the lanyard to fire the weapon. He served in B Battery, 13th Regiment, 5th Division [Annotator's Note: Battery B, 13th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division]. Pryor was allowed to enjoy the beach and was fed good food. He trained in a desert that was owned by the King family from Texas. When there was spare time, Pryor was allowed to take a cactus berry from the land's cacti. He had to be careful eating them because the berry had stickers on them, but the fruit tasted like watermelon. The battery had a forward observer who would direct fire. The battery had a sergeant who relayed those messages to the battery. The battery would fire until it was on target, then would fire until the target was destroyed. A shell was called a round and would come packed in a tube. Powder bags would be attached depending on the range of the target. The crew could control the projectile's fuse, causing it to detonate in air if needed. Pryor could not tell what happened after the shell was fired, but occasionally he had to fire as quickly as possible. The barrel would start smoking and the crew would have to cool it down. During the Battle of Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima 19 February through 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan], Pryor's unit shot more shells than any other battery in Marine Corps history. The shells weighed about 12 pounds. While in Hawaii, the Marines would visit the USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations] in town. Pryor would hike as well.

Frank Pryor combated loaded his troopship in Hilo, Hawaii. The fleet came together at Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. Pryor did not know here he was going, but knew it would be combat. He slept in a bunk aboard ship. Above deck, he was required to wear a helmet. One time, he was not wearing his helmet and forced to go below deck to retrieve it. He sailed on an APA [Annotator's Note: attack transport ship] then transferred to a LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] at Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands]. He finished the trip on the LST. It was a crowded ship and in rough weather it became a difficult trip. At Saipan, the artillery guns were also put on the LST. They were put on a DUKW [Annotator's Note: six-wheel-drive amphibious truck; also known as a Duck], Detroit United Kirk Works, and then transported ashore. After he left Saipan, Pryor was shown a model of Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima 19 February through 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan], and he learned where he would land on the island. There were 400 ships involved in the invasion. Months before the invasion, the Air Force and Navy started bombing the island. The Marines thought it would be easy to capture the islands, but they did not know the Japanese had dug caves underground and built tough bunkers and pillboxes. The island was about three and a half miles long and one and a half miles wide with an extinct volcano called Mount Suribachi. Pryor was at the first air base, near the base of the mountain when the flag was raised. He could see the flag and knew they were winning the war. The Navy was still shelling the island during the landing. The water was rough that morning, causing a difficult landing. He went ashore in a DUKW. When it tried to go up the beach, the vehicle lost traction and had to go back down the beach. Later, Pryor was told the DUKW should never be parallel to the beach, which happened to his vehicle. It turned over sideways and Pryor had to struggle ashore. His friend had jumped onto the beach and helped Pryor make it ashore. The Marines recovered the equipment, but the artillery gun had already been emplaced. Pryor's sergeant thought the men had been killed when the DUKW turned over. He was amazed they survived. The Marines were under mortar and artillery fire during the landing. Ships were being hit at sea. When the DUKWs were hit, they would split in half. Pryor was happy to see someone had dug a foxhole next to his gun. He was able to sleep occasionally. The sand was black and he would sink when he walked through it. The vehicles could not maneuver through it. Pryor's unit [Annotator's Note: Battery B, 13th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division] was the only support the infantry had on the beach. Pryor would fire at any target the forward observer told him to hit.

Frank Pryor was well supplied on Iwo Jima. The SeaBees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions] provided food and he never ran out of ammunition, despite firing a lot of it. His first night on Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima 19 February through 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan] was scary. He could hear incoming shells in the air. Some landed close by, but no direct hits. At one point, Pryor was told the Japanese would bayonet every foxhole in the area, but that never happened. Pryor was so tired, he slept with his helmet as his pillow. He worked as needed, and usually for three hours. Pryor saw a dead Japanese soldier on the path to the latrine. He remained there for some time. He also saw hundreds of dead Marines waiting for burial. The graves were dug by bulldozers. As he embarked after the battle, there were three Japanese bodies nearby and one had a wedding ring on. Seeing that, Pryor realized they were still human beings. The wounded Marines looked pitiful. They were loaded onto the ship to be taken care of. The LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] brought Pryor back to Hawaii. Seeing the dead Marines made Pryor sad. Over 5,000 Marines were killed and 20,000 wounded. The Japanese could see the Marines when the landed, but not the other way around. The best weapon the Marines had was the flamethrower. It was a terrible way to died, but necessary. Grenades were also effective. Pryor never did that, but heard about the actions. Once the Japanese were set on fire, they could not be put out because it stuck to them. Pryor never saw a living Japanese soldier. During the battle, there were 22,000 Japanese on the island. They were told to kill ten Marines before being killed. About 1,000 Japanese surrendered and the others were killed. Pryor landed on the second day of the battle. He was on the island for 23 days. At the end of the battle, Pryor and his sergeant were sitting next to their gun when an incoming shell blew up and sent shrapnel below the sergeant's eye. He had to go to the hospital to get the shrapnel out. Pryor did not get hit. Pryor never moved his gun position. One time, he was asked to volunteer to move a gun farther north, but he refused. Pryor remained on the island for a couple days after the battle ended. He was happy to walk onto his ship, which took him to Hawaii. He was given a 155mm [Annotator’s Note: M1 155mm howitzer] cannon, which he thought was a powerful weapon. He trained with the gun on Hawaii.

When Frank Pryor left Hawaii, he was sent to Japan instead of the mainland [Annotator's Note: the United States mainland]. He passed through Eniwetok [Annotator's Note: Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands], then landed at Kyushu, Japan. He visited several towns in Japan. At first, the civilians were afraid of the Americans, but the kids liked the chocolate the Americans gave them. Eventually, Pryor went to Nagasaki [Annotator's Note: Nagasaki, Japan], the second city hit with a nuclear bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. It helped end the war. The first bomb [Annotator's Note: atomic bomb] was dropped on Hiroshima [Annotator's Note: Hiroshima, Japan]. They killed a lot of people, but ended the war. Pryor was in Hawaii when the war ended. He thought he would be sent home, but was not. His job was to guard the caves with ammunition in them. There were a lot of caves filled with ammunition and weapons. Pryor did not think the Japanese would try to attack. They became friendly and kind towards the Americans. Pryor watched a sumo wrestling match. Pryor did not have regular contact with any one Japanese person. There was a told Japanese soldier that showed Pryor how to wrestle. He was given a book of Japanese words and Pryor learned how to speak a little bit of the language. Some of the Japanese spoke English well, but had a hard time pronouncing Pryor's last name. Pryor boarded a ship in Nagasaki bound for the United States. Pryor was sent to a naval station in Virginia and was discharged in Great Lakes [Annotator's Note: Naval Station Great Lakes in Great Lakes, Illinois]. He was discharged as a corporal, which Pryor liked. He was not told why Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima 19 February through 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan] needed to be captured, he learned that later in life from reading about the battle. It was a difficult battle all the way through, Pryor did not know the extent until later. The cost was high, but the island needed to be taken to help the B-29 bombers [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] and other aircraft. After leaving the service, Pryor used the GI Bill. He attended Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He received a Bachelor's in Science after studying trade and industrial education. Pryor did not think he would have attended college if not for the GI Bill. His brother-in-law was an electrical engineer and Pryor wanted to be like him but he did not have the mathematics skills needed for the work. Instead he learned about diesel work.

The war taught Frank Pryor obedience, discipline, and how to take care of himself. He thought it was advantageous for him to be in the Marine Corps. Pryor learned to value education. He thought it was important to have an education to have a decent living. The GI Bill was an advantage that he was grateful for. When Pryor was in Hawaii after war, his best friend wanted a jacket. Pryor loaned him a jacket with both their names on it. They visited each other 50 years after the war and Pryor got his jacket back. Pryor thinks it is important for The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] to exist. He thinks people need to know how important the war was and how the military fought and won it. He thinks all the war museums are important. Admiral Nimitz [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Sr., Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet] was in charge of the South Pacific and the town he was born in created a museum in his honor. Pryor has sent DVDs about the Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima 19 February through 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan] teachers training guide to various museums around the country. Pryor wants the kids in school to learn and appreciate the importance of the war and how great the country is. The men in the service did the work to end the war.