By Lauren Kuntzman
In honor of Veterans Day, this week’s blog post will focus on the history of the Honor Roll Board of service members from Medina and Montville Townships in WWII.
American Legion Takes the Lead
Ten months after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States’ entry into WWII, members of the local American Legion post initiated efforts to create an “Honor Roll Board” of service members from Medina village, Medina Township, and Montville Township. Post leader Perry Smith formed a committee of members, including Cloyd Derhammer, Clayton Randall, and Neal Roshon.
Derhammer, Randall, and Roshon were to collect the names of individuals who were currently serving or had already served in WWII and had been honorably discharged. These names were to be inscribed on a sign, mounted on the side of the B. & L. Store, located at 201 S. Court Street (the site of Lemonberry Frozen Yogurt today). Local businessmen funded the building and installation of the sign. The sign was designed by local sign painter Franklin Bates. Bates planned for it to hold 1,000 names and inscribed the names collected in the first round of the project.
Criteria to be Included on the Honor Roll Board
To be named on the list, individuals had to be…
a resident of Medina Township, Montville Township, or Medina Village.
currently serving in a branch of the military or…
a veteran of WWII and honorably discharged from service.
Individuals also had to be “sponsored” by a relative. Sponsorship had no financial component – it was free for all service members to be added to the Honor Roll – but took the form of a written statement with the individual’s name, address, and branch of service. It was hoped that the “sponsorship” model would reduce duplicates, omissions, and errors.
In the committee’s initial call for names, written statements were to be submitted by October 1, 1942. They hoped to dedicate the Honor Roll on Armistice Day 1942.
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The List Grows
The process of collecting service members’ names took longer than anticipated. It wasn’t until April 1943 that it was considered to be “up-to-date.”
Additional individuals would be added to the list when they entered the service and the American Legion committee continued to collect names. Here is a brief timeline of its growth:
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| Virginia (Wheeler) Martin, benefactor of MCDL's Family History & Learning Center was one of the painters to add names to the Honor Roll Board. |
July 1943 - 514 names - Sign Painter: Robert High
February 1944 - 596 names - Sign Painter: Robert High
May 1944 - 622 names - Sign Painter: Virginia Wheeler
August 1945 - 757 names - Sign Painter: Emil Gnuschke
Over time, the Honor Roll also came to include women. The three local women serving as WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in the US Naval Reserve were Eleanor Brandt, Lois Kaden, and Pearl Seller. Army Nurse Elizabeth Mettie was also added to the Honor Roll.
As time passed, some of those noted on the Honor Roll lost their lives. At first, gold crosses were painted in front of the names of individuals who gave their lives in the war. Later these individuals were identified with gold stars.
The War and the Honor Roll Board Come to an End
By the end of the war in September 1945, 761 residents of Medina village, Medina Township, and Montville Township were named on the Honor Roll Board. The sign remained in place at South Court Street but, over time, came to need repainting and repair. It was ultimately decided that the Honor Roll Board should be part of the Memorial Day exercises in 1947 and then removed.
Learn More
To learn more about the Honor Roll Board, visit https://mcdl.info/newspapers and view the following issues of the Medina Gazette:
11 September 1942, p. 1
22 September 1942, p. 1
23 October 1942, p. 1
23 April 1943, p. 1
6 July 1943, p. 1
24 August 1943, p. 1
1 February 1944, p. 1
23 May 1944, p. 1
5 June 1945, p. 1
20 July 1945, p. 1
25 September 1945, p. 1
4 February 1947, p. 6
27 May 1947, p. 1
18 April 1947, p. 1
20 May 1947, p. 1
3 June 1947, p. 8
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