Merle Ranker, Korean War Vet
Urban Ranker, a World War I vet and Margaret Hess Ranker had four boys and two girls. The four boys were all veterans: Urban, Jr. and Paul, World War II, Merle and Norman, Korean. Urban, Jr. and Norman are deceased. The two girls are Mirian Stephens and Doris Maiberger.
Urban was a millwright at National Machinery, which was near the family home. Merle on his Advertiser-Tribune paper route went past Charles Dedrick ’s Shell Station opposite Founder’s Hall at Heidelberg College. At age 13, Charles invited Merle to do odd jobs around the station.
Merle continued to work for Dedrick for several years. He remembers how Charlie spent time and money helping Heidelberg students who were in need. Dedrick sponsored prizes and awards and was present at many events at the college. ‘’He was a great friend of the students.’’
Merle went to College Hill (now the Aigler Alumni building at Heidelberg), West Junior High and Columbian High School which later became East Junior High School. He met Barbara Kuhn, daughter of Herman and Christine Kuhn when they both were in their senior year. Barbara was a student at Calvert. They both graduated in 1947.
Tiffin University offered their classes above the Gold Bond Furniture Store. Boys were trained in bookkeeping and girls in shorthand. It was a two year program which Merle completed in 1949. He emphasized how important these skills, including typing, were in the rest of his life and perhaps even saved his life. Barbara went to Bowling Green for two years.
Barbara and Merle were married Sept 2, 1950. Paul and Merle bought the Sinclair Gas Station on Melmore Street in October, 1950 and the two Ranker brothers worked at the station until Merle was drafted into the Army on July 19, 1951.
An AT article of that date listed Paul Hammer of Fostoria, Edward Johnson, Richard Nateman, John McCloud, Randall McKillip and Merilyn Ranker, of Tiffin as they were sent to Toledo by bus to be sworn into the armed forces.
From Fort Meade, Maryland, Merle was sent to Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania for basic training and assigned to the Fifth Infantry Division. After eight weeks, Merle’s group had to leave this camp, and they spent another eight weeks in a temporary camp in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Merle’s role as a typist and record keeper started in the Orderly Room at Indiantown Gap.
On May 14, 1952 he landed in Fort Lawton, Washington. On May 29th, he was on a troopship, The Private Joseph P. Martinez, bound first for Adak, Alaska, and then to Yokohama, Japan. They landed on June 12, 1952. From Camp Drake near Tokyo, he next attended Eta Jima Specialist School and completed this personnel administrative course on August 21. This course was taught on an island near Hiroshima. He visited Hiroshima several times where he took several pictures of the great devastation of the first atomic bomb. He met Art Ward of Tiffin at Eta Jima where Art was in Special Services.
Merle next was sent to Pusan, Korea on August 27, 1952. He was assigned to Engineer Headquarters of the Second Logistical Command. Many of his buddies went on to the front lines. Ballreich’s regularly sent large tins of potato chips which were a welcome sight. While in Pusan he met Tom Schuman of Tiffin whose duties were on a small island where prisoners were held. He also ran across Ralph Harding of Tiffin who was assigned to a small air base at Toegu.
Merle, while in Korea, was startled to read in the overseas edition of Stars and Stripes a prominently displayed story with a Tiffin dateline. The story concerned Heidelberg’s victory over Hiram College, played in Tiffin, and it was Hiram’s 35th consecutive loss in basketball, which put them within one game of the record losing streak set by Kenyon College.
Leaving Pusan on June 20, 1953, he arrived in San Francisco on July 1. Private First Class Merlyn Ranker was discharged July 9th, 1953. The Korean War started June 25, 1950 and ended July 27, 1953.
Merle came home to resume work with his brother, Paul, at their Sinclair Station on Melmore. That station later became an Arco, then a Gulf and then an independent. It has always been and remains a full service station. Paul sold his share to Merle in 1983. Merle retired in 1991. .
The Ranker’s son Allen lives in Maumee. Daughter Susan Lewis of Sycamore has three children: Michael, in the Air Force, Audra, a student at BG, and David, a recent graduate of Mohawk High School. Their son Daniel lives in Columbus. Daughter Beverly and her husband, Jim Shaffer and their two children Andrea, a Columbian student, and Luke, a 7h grade student at the new Middle School, live near Tiffin.
Barbara and Merle are well-known and outstanding members of the Tiffin community. They are wonderful neighbors to the Lillys of 110 Mohawk Street. They give a lot of their time and talent in helping people. Merle likes to fish, play cards, and did bowl a mean game. He has become known as an authority on U. S. coins and is often asked to evaluate a collection. Barbara is well known for her volunteer work with the Tiffin-Seneca Library.
– Percy