In Memoriam - May 25, 2026

It's another Memorial Day and our soldiers, sailors and air men and women are based around the world, on land and at sea, protecting the USA from those who would destroy us or rule us.  A total of approximately 631,000 American military personnel have made the ultimate sacrifice in conflicts around the world from World War I (The 'war to end all wars') until now.

My father was one of the many who sacrificed his life to protect our freedoms and our way of life.  Ronald Allen Myers was born in Jackson Michigan on April 2, 1911.  His parents were Frank and Mary (Cerrow) Myers.  The photo above is of my dad as a boy with his brother Clifford.  

This photo was part of a series of pictures taken upon Ronald's graduation from Jackson High School in 1930.  This was apparently his 'smiling pose'.  As you will see a bit further on, the photographer had his subjects provide different attitudes or poses.

My dad worked his way through college, meeting my mother in 1936 when he was working as a 'soda jerk' in a local Jackson drug store.  Ronald initially graduated from Jackson Community College.  Then he pursued a business curriculum at Michigan State Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University), and he decided that business wasn't for him.  Next stop were studies followed by his graduation from Michigan State College (before it became a university, now MSU).  He looked a bit more serious in this graduation photo than he did in that high school picture.  Graduating in 1938, his degree was in Soil Conservation and Forestry.  He soon went to work as a Conservation Officer for the State of Michigan.  This newspaper clipping announcing his graduation from MSC was from the Jackson Citizen Patriot.

He married my mother, Elizabeth Weed, on January 17th, 1939.  He was almost 27 and she had just celebrated her 23 birthday in January.  His Conservation Officer duties kept the couple on the move from area to area.  At one point, his job found him and my mother to the area around Carson City Michigan.  That was where I was born in July of 1942. 

The three photo shown above are of my parents and me.  With World War II underway, Ronald had enlisted in the Army, first training in officer's school, washing out due to color blindness, and then undergoing further training at Fort Hood in Texas.  The extended training delayed his deployment to the war in Europe.  He was ultimately shipped overseas in January of 1945.  By that time, I was 2 and a half years old.  

Sadly, due to my age at the time, I have no memories of my dad.  During my father's time in the military, we lived at my maternal grandparent's home (Estelle and Nathan Weed) 124 East Prospect Ave in Jackson.  

                                      

This photo of my dad was taken just prior to his deployment to the European Front in the closing months of our battle with the Nazi's.  He looks like he was in good shape and good spirits...

This photo, taken by an Army photographer, was found in US Army archives by a citizen and historian from the Czech Republic.  He then forwarded it to me.  It shows Staff Sergeant Ronald A. Myers leading a column through Germany.  

The photo was taken about 3 weeks before he was killed in action.  The photo was obtained from the files of the 16th Regiment Association.  The label on the photo reads "Sgt. Ronald Myers advances down a road towards the German town of Riefensbeek, 14 April, 1945."

 

Ronald Allen Myers was killed on May 6th, 1945, just 2 days prior to the official end of the War in Europe, and 81 years ago this month.  As was the practice during WWII, my mother learned of my father's death via a telegraph.  (It is worthy of note that another 17 residents of Jackson County Michigan were reported as KIA in the same Jackson Citizen Patriot issue as my dad's death was... 

Initially my dad was buried in Czechoslovakia but his final resting place is in the Lorraine American Military Cemetery near the town of Saint-Avold France.  He was part of  "The Big Red One", a famed Infantry Division which, in turn, was about half of General George S. Patton's Third Army that liberated Western Czechoslovakia.

FYI, the city of Pilsen in The Czech Republic holds an expansive festival or celebration of the area's liberation from the Nazis at the end of World War II.  Sadly, with the Russian occupation shortly following the war, the area's citizens were unable to celebrate their short-lived freedom until after liberation from Communist rule in 1989.  To learn more about Pilsen's annual WWII liberation celebration, go to https://www.slavnostisvobody.cz/en/. 

This photo includes a more serious looking high school graduation photo of my dad, the Purple Heart awarded for his sacrifice as well as the actual burial flag from his internment at the Lorraine Military Cemetery in France.  It had been sent back to the USA.  Family members found it and other memorabilia in a trunk in Ronald's father's garage in Jackson.  The family 'discovered' me via this blogsite on the Internet and I am grateful that they brought my dad's things to me...

Just a thought... Is the Purple Heart 'enough' for those who have died for their country during combat?  Military personnel receiving any wound, be it minor, critical or fatal, are all eligible for a Purple Heart.  Obviously, anyone wounded during a conflict was at risk for death...and perhaps that's why the parameters for the Purple Heart are so broad.

This is my favorite memorial to my dad.  A local citizen or perhaps citizens near the town of Tesov in the Czech Republic have erected and apparently still maintain this local and personal memorial to honor the sacrifice of Ronald Allen Myers.  Through my Czech contacts, I learned that my dad was the last member of his unit to be killed in action.

God Bless America and as well as all of the millions of men and women who have fought for, have been wounded or have died for our freedom!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave