Ronald Allen Myers – Memorial Day 2024

Memorial Day…a day when I always wonder what my life would have been like if my father, Ronald Allen Myers, had survived World War II.  He probably would have returned to his career as a conservation officer in Michigan.  I certainly would have been given more exposure to nature and the great outdoors.  I probably still would have gone to Michigan State University but my major probably wouldn’t have been in Social Sciences – Police Administration.

But, since my dad was KIA in Czechoslovakia while fighting one of the last engagements with German troops, I’ll never know what the future would have been for my mother or myself.  I just wish that I could remember my dad…but I was only about 2 and a half years old when he was killed on May 6^th, 1945.

This photo of my dad and me is from sometime in 1944… It was probably taken in front of my material grandparent’s home on Prospect Street in Jackson Michigan.  I would have been about 2 years old.

Over the past several years I have been in contact with a WWII researcher – David Foud, from Pilsen in the Czech Republic; Andrew Woods, a Research Historian from the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park in Wheaton Illinois, and through Andrew another Czech researcher, Martin Schmid.  They have all provided me with bits of information about my father’s last days… I’m hoping for additional information as their research progresses.

Andrew Woods’s focus is the US Army’s First Division, the Big Red One.  My dad’s unit was part of that famous American fighting force.  David Foud is a civilian who has been working on a project that commemorates fallen American soldiers in Czechoslovakia in 1945 and 1946.  Martin Schmid is specifically researching the battle between German and American forces on May 6, 1945 near Cheb/Eger, in what is now the Czech Republic.

This photo of my dad, with a column of American soldiers and armor, apparently moving toward Czechoslovakia, was taken by a US Army photographer.  David Foud sent the photo to me.  He’s obtained it from the 16^th Regiment Association.  The official label on the photo reads “Sgt. Ronald Myers advances down a road towards the German town of Riefensbeek, 14 April, 1945.

Martin Schmid forwarded a considerable amount of information to Andrew Woods who then passed it on to me.  Martin, a student at West Bohemia University in Pilsen, was writing a thesis on the WWII battle fought near Tesov in the Cheb Region in 1945.  He stated that he is “an avid collector of the American First Infantry Division”. 

I believe that this photo was forwarded to me by Andrew Woods and that it was originally sent to Andrew by Martin Schmid.  It is a local memorial to my father placed somewhere near the location where he was killed in what is now the Czech Republic.  I was very happy to see this local remembrance and that it has been so well maintained.  After the war, my dad was exhumed and then reburied in the Lorraine American Military Cemetery in Saint-Avold, France.

The following information was also forwarded to me by Andrew Woods.  It was apparently sent to him by Michael Rund of the Muzeum Sokolov in the Czech Republic.  The excerpts below were taken from a book entitled “Kveten bez Seriku” or “May without Lilies”.  It was written by Vladimir Bruzenak.

“Companies I, K and L of the 3^rd Battalion attacked from Jesenice and Okrouhai in the Milikov area…near Tesov.  The soldiers of Company L encountered resistance from German soldiers, members of the RAD and Volksstrum.  German machine guns and handguns started firing from the wooded hill above the village.  They were answered by gunfire from the American tanks and fire from infantry weapons.  The entire firefight lasted about an hour.  Only after a platoon of K Company soldiers joined the fight did most of the Germans either scatter into the surrounding woods or surrender.  The body of the German commander was said to have been found only a few days later.  Staff Sergeant Ronald Myers, the last dead of the entire 18^th Regiment in this war, was killed by German fire.”

Many thanks to my father and the thousands of other members of our armed forces who have given their lives to ensure our liberty and freedoms.  God Bless America!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave