By Ken Wyatt
This is a story about a U.S. Army veteran with 22 years of service in some of the world’s hot spots: Europe, Africa, Korea, Iraq. But it is more than that. Retired First Sergeant Daryl Kinder is the grandson of World War II veteran Vern Albert Ruoff. This story is more about Ruoff’s sacrificial service.
The Kinder family is mostly known for its residency in the Parma area of Jackson County. But Ruoff was born in Addison, Lenawee County, in 1922. In the years before he was drafted to serve in the war in 1944, he married and had three children – one of whom, Arlene, married Dick Kinder and became Daryl Kinder’s mother.
That, plus Kinder’s own military service, helps explains why in October, he stood before an audience of family and military veterans in San Antonio, Texas, and introduced a talk that began as follows: “It is my honor today to speak about my grandfather, PFC Vern Albert Ruoff.”
Ruoff, like about 16 million other U.S. servicemen, served on active duty during World War II. As a railroad worker, he could have been deferred from military service. However, he felt it was his duty to serve. And in 1945 – just weeks from the end of the war in Europe – his choice included him among 405,000 of our fellow Americans who paid the ultimate price during the Second World War.
In his prepared remarks, Kinder explained to a gathering of family and veterans, “Vern Ruoff was killed in WWII and Grandma was mailed a Purple Heart. Over time the Purple Heart was lost/misplaced. It was found and the 65th Infantry Division Association reached out to mom to figure out when and where to present it to the next of kin.”
For those unfamiliar with it, the Purple Heart is a military decoration given in the name of the president to those wounded or killed in their military service.
San Antonio was the location of the annual reunion of the 65th Infantry Division Association Oct. 15-19. So Kinder family members traveled there for presentation of the Purple Heart.
Leading up to that event, Kinder was able to work with a 65th Infantry Division historian to learn as much about his grandfather’s service as possible. Other research had already been done by the family, but it was complicated by a fire that had destroyed many service records in the 1970s. Little had been known of the circumstances of PFC. Ruoff’s death. But Kinder was able to report this to the October gathering:
“PFC Ruoff and others had crossed into Germany and were manning a forward position in preparation for the company to open the Saarlautern bridgehead. While [his unit was] manning this forward position, it was struck by mortar fire. PFC Vern Albert Ruoff was killed on March 12, 1945.”
Initially, the remains were buried at an American Cemetery in Luxembourg. After the war, in 1949, the U.S. government repatriated the remains at government expense.
At the ceremony in Texas, Daryl reported on other medals his grandfather would have received. “In addition to the Purple Heart, PFC Vern Albert Ruoff would have been awarded the European, African, Middle East Campaign Medal with a bronze star for the Rhineland campaign, the American Campaign Medal, the WWII Victory Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal. In addition, as an infantryman, he would also be a recipient of the Combat Infantry Badge.”
Those medals were collected and Kinder presented them formally to his mother at the ceremony in Texas.
In his presentation, he also reflected on his own service relative to that of his grandfather: “As a teen, I read a couple of books in school about the Siegfried line because it greatly interested me. I believe I had to write a book report or something on it. I had no idea that my grandpa fought there. During my first tour in Germany, mom, dad and I drove through the area where grandpa was killed on our way from Stuttgart, Germany, to Paris, France. I know we drove by Saarlautern and crossed the Saar river. Again, we did not know that grandpa was killed in that area.”
Kinder enlisted in the Army in August of 1996. His initial training was at Ft. Benning, Georgia, as an infantryman. Three years into his service, he trained as a military intelligence analyst. During his 22 years of service he trained in many other areas, ranging from special operations and counterterrorism to insurgent warfare and non-combatant evacuations.
While serving in Iraq in 2007, he was involved in a search for five Americans who were kidnapped at Karbala. They were eventually found – executed and either dumped along a road or buried in shallow graves on an island.
Not all who serve face enemy fire in combat – as did Daryl’s grandfather. The vast majority of those who serve return home. All who serve do so with the knowledge that their service could expose them to various hazards – including injuries, wounds, or death.
Veterans Day is always observed on Nov. 11, which is Tuesday next week. It honors all who have served in our armed services, whether in war or peace.
