Staff Sergeant Ronald Allen Myers was my father... He was born on April 2, 1911 and married my mother, Elizabeth Sibbald Weed, on January 17, 1939. I was born on July 21, 1942. My dad was fatally wounded in Czechoslovakia on May 6, 1945, only 2 days before V-E day... He and his unit were trying to clean out a German machine gun emplacement.
At the time of his death, my father was a member of the 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, known as "The Fighting First" or "The Big Red 1".
My mother met my dad in Jackson Michigan where he was working as a Soda Jerk in a Drug Store. He was a graduate of Michigan State University, majoring in forestry and, for a short time before the war, he worked for the Michigan Department of Conservation.
This photo is of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Jackson Michigan. My dad and 7 others who gave their lives for our country have been memorialized in a huge stained glass window in the chapel. Note the photos which follow.
My father and many others are memorialized at the Michigan State University Alumni Chapel in East Lansing, Michigan. The chapel was built in 1951 and 1952 to honor those alumni who died in the service of our country...beginning back in 1861. The names of these honored alumni are engraved on the vestibule walls of the chapel. Embedded in the walls of the chapel are 30 stones that were picked out of the ruins of European cathedrals, some of which were over 500 years old, that had been bombed during World War II.
As shown in the photos below, my father is buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery in St. Avold (Moselle), France.
What an incredible story. I think we as Americans forget the sacrifices suffered by the “greatest generation” and their families. The Service Members who left their families willing to fight evil and protect the American way of life and the families who had to deal with the loss of Husbands, Fathers and Brothers. Thanks for sharing the story of American hero and his family of heroes.
ReplyDeleteDennis