Paul Fry, Brigadier General (retired), joined the Defence Forces in 1974 and was commissioned as an officer in the Air Corps in 1976. A tradition of military service in his family has been traced back to the early 19th century. He has flown the full range of Air Corps operations, including search and rescue, air ambulance, ministerial air transport service and maritime patrol. Brig Gen Fry served as General Officer Commanding the Air Corps and Director of Military Aviation from January 2011 to his retirement in June 2017. Brig Gen Fry was interviewed for the Military Archives Oral History Project in March 2017.

In this piece of audio Brigadier General Fry outlines his family background in the military, which stretches back to 1815, when an ancestor joined the British Army. He also states that his grandfather Robert Fry was born in 1889 and later joined the 36th (Ulster Division) in 1914 and fought in World War I. Both Robert and his brother David were also signatories of the Ulster League and Covenant