MEDINA — Americans who served in World War II are referred to as our country’s greatest generation.

Medina resident Ralph Waite, who will be inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame next week, thinks many Americans from that time were overlooked.

“The greatest generation wasn’t only in the military,” said the 81-year-old Army veteran. “It was on the home front supporting the war.”

A junior at Medina High School when Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, Waite saw Medina, then a small town of 4,000, quickly mobilize to support the war and those who would fight overseas.

“People were sacrificing in this country,” he said. “The factories and the workers would take great pride in saying that we did our part.”

Waite, who served in the Army’s 924th Field Artillery Battalion, 99th Division, will be inducted by Gov. Ted Strickland into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame on Thursday. He will be one of 20 members of the 2007 induction class, which includes veterans, alive and deceased, from the War of 1812, World War I and II, and the Korean and Vietnam wars.

“I’m really humbled by the opportunity,” said Waite, who attended the 2005 induction when his friend and fellow Medina County resident Jim Anderson was inducted. “I never thought I’d live to receive it. There are a lot of others that could take my place.”

At 17 and 18 years old, Waite and other classmates at Medina High would collect scrap metal from area farms to be turned into war materials. They also set up war bond booths inside the high school, in which they would compete against other classes to see who could sell the most bonds and stamps.

At that time, Waite saw Medina factories that once produced goods of convenience now producing war materials. He saw Gold Star Mothers, mothers of deceased soldiers, knit scarves for the men overseas.

“It’s hard to fathom the village of 4,000 and the close-knit community that existed,” he said.

In the midst of the effort, Waite recalled that seeing his former classmates come back from the war really meant something to him. They provided a strong image to strive toward.

Serving country
When he graduated in 1944, it was his turn to go.

He along with 15,000 other young men boarded the Queen Mary and were part of the effort to replace the many men who died, were captured or were wounded during the Battle of the Bulge.

“We didn’t really know anything at that point what we were getting into,” Waite said, “only that it was an experience where we were being called to duty.”

He spent a year in Volkach, a small German village, from June 1944 to July 1945. During his time overseas, he crossed a bridge over the Rhine before it was blown up by Germans. He trudged through deep snow in Europe. He made connections with fellow soldiers and the Europeans he protected.

“You’re depending on one another there,” he said. “That’s the feeling that I experienced. It’s real.”

After the war in Europe ended, his division was destined to head to the Pacific in November 1945. But V-J Day came in August of that year, allowing Waite to return to the States

Even though Waite just missed a second tour of duty overseas 62 years ago, he still feels his obligation to his country hasn’t ended since he returned home to Medina.

“My feeling has been … we occupy space on this earth and community service is the rent that we pay for the space that we’re permitted to occupy,” Waite once said in a Gazette interview. “I think we all have an obligation — a debt to repay. I think that’s been the way I’ve looked at serving my community.”

Serving community
In 1949, Waite joined his grandfather, Herbert, and his father, Harold, in the family business, Waite and Son Funeral Home, where he spent the following 51 years as a licensed funeral director and embalmer. He remains chairman of the company’s board.

Waite also has spent a large part of his adulthood working to serve veterans.

He has twice served as post commander of Medina American Legion Post 202 and he currently serves in the Honor Guard at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery in Rittman.

In fact, he was one of the people who helped bring that cemetery to Medina County. When federal funding was slow in coming and construction of the cemetery was delayed, Waite organized mock funerals to draw media attention to the site.

“That caught the eyes of the politicians that went to work,” he said, explaining the cemetery was soon finished. “A lot of those men who were (assisting him with the mock funerals) are now interred at the national cemetery.”

Waite also helped organize a local contribution of more than $2,000 to build a national World War II monument. And when the memorial opened on Memorial Day 2004, he chartered a bus trip so 43 area veterans and members of their families could see the dedication in Washington, D.C.

Serving youth
But it’s his work with youth that has brought Waite’s community service full circle, teaching the next generation the lessons that helped him get through war, his career and life.

A 1944 graduate of Medina High School, Waite has served two terms as president on the Medina Board of Education (1966-74), and he co-founded in 1984 the Medina City Schools Foundation, a nonprofit organization that brings learning opportunities to area students.

In addition, he has helped students from Medina County and abroad receive opportunities to study in foreign countries through his 25-year presidency with the Ohio Erie Rotary Youth Exchange Program.

When he was a high school junior in 1943, Waite attended the Ohio Buckeye Boys State program in Columbus. To return the opportunity given to him, he has served as commissioner for the organization since 1968, serving one term as president in 2005.

In his time with the program, it has become the largest of its kind in the country.

Waite also has worked with youth in the Boy Scouts after being a member since childhood. He took the position of Scoutmaster of Medina Boy Scout Troop 501 shortly after returning from the war. As a Scout, he said he learned many skills that helped him through the war and through life.

“I think we have to help our youth learn things about nature, about our country … cooperating, learning the fundamentals of the Scout Oath and Law, doing good deeds, and helping our community,” he said. “Those are all skills. You teach them to young people and hopefully it will stick in the world.”

Keeping alive the skills learned and the memories gained from the war has been important to Waite. He has attended reunions with his 99th division, where he relived the camaraderie built throughout the war years. He has returned to Europe twice, one time with his sons in tow, to see the sights and relive the experiences he had during the war.

Many war remnants still lie in towns in Belgium and Germany, reminding Waite of much of the work he did over there and the memories he made.

“Those vehicles are still over there. When we go over there for a reunion, it makes you feel pretty good,” he said.

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