Date of birth:

June 3rd, 1921 (Three Oaks/Michigan, United States)

Date of death:

March 24th, 2014 (Delphi/Indiana, United States)

Nationality:

American

He was born June 3, 1921 in Three Oaks, MI, to the late Charles E. & Sylvia Borders Ritzler. His marriage was to Norma Jean Yerkes in Flora, on Dec. 23, 1945, and she preceded him in death on Apr. 29, 2009. He graduated from Three Oaks High School in 1939, and graduated from Purdue University in 1950, with a degree in Civil Engineering.

A WW II Army Veteran, he enlisted in the airborne division, and was assigned to the newly formed 501st Parachute Regiment in Toccoa, GA, for basic training. He qualified from jump school in 1943 at Fort Benning, and began intense training at Camp McCall in North Carolina. Late in 1943 he arrived in England, and in the early morning of June 6, 1944, he jumped into France (D-Day), returning to England to regroup in July-1944. He then jumped into Holland on Sept. 17, 1944, under British command. After 50 days of frontline fighting, the regiment was withdrawn to Mourmelon, France, to again regroup. The 101st Airborne was suddenly rushed into Bastogne, Belgium, on Dec. 19, 1944, to stop a push of the Germans in the "Battle of the Bulge." Wounded from that conflict, he spent 3 months in hospitals recovering. He received the British Military Medal from Field Marshall Sir Bernard Montgomery on Mar. 26, 1945, for his actions at a railroad bridge at Veghel, Holland, where he and his machine gun squad, held off the German soldiers for a day and a half, until reinforcements arrived.

He was discharged on Dec. 5, 1945, at Camp Atterbury. He served his apprenticeship with Arthur Ritchie & Robert Brown, civil engineers, in Carroll Engineering Service from 1950-1954. He then served as deputy county surveyor, from 1954-1956, and then was the Carroll County Surveyor from 1956-1984. After retiring from office, he started Ritzler Engineering Inc., from 1984-2005. He was registered in the State of Indiana as a professional Civil Engineer, and as a land surveyor.

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Corporal

Unit:

Company D, 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division "Screaming Eagles", US Army

For actions performed on 23 September 1944 near the railway bridge over the Zuid-Willemsvaart (canal) at Veghel/North Brabant, the Netherlands.

Citation unavailable.

• - Koskimaki, G.E., Hell’s Highway – De 101e Airborne Divisie tijdens operatie Market Garden (deel 2), Kempen Pers, Hapert, Nederland, 1991 (Nederlandse vertaling)
  - Charles Ritzler Obituary - Delphi, IN | Journal & Courier