PFC Ralph H. C. Fritz
Private First Class (PFC) Ralph Henry Carl Fritz of Dog Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), 101st Airborne Division, was born in Circle, McCone County, Montana, to Alvin J. and Elsie S. (Volpp) Fritz on March 19, 1922. Ralph was their oldest son. He had eight brothers, Howard J., Avron A., Lawrence W., Richard F., Winfred A., Arthur M, Lyle D, and Earl Fritz, and three sisters, Mildred R., Lucille S., and Gladys M. Fritz.
His brother Howard enlisted in the U.S. Navy in February 1942 and served during the war and, post-WWII, in the U.S. Navy and, as of 1953, in the U.S. Air Force until his retirement. Avon was inducted at Fort Douglas, Utah, at the end of March 1945, and served as a paratrooper with the 11th Airborne Division in Japan (1945 – 1946). Lawrence joined the U.S. Navy at the end of May 1944 and served as a Seaman First Class with the Navy in the Southwest Pacific.
Avron Fritz, pictured left, and lawrence Fritz, pictured right. Courtesy of Ancestry.com
Ralph registered for the draft in his hometown of Circle on June 30, 1942, and was working at his dad’s farm when he signed up. The draft also mentions a crooked little finger on his right hand. He enlisted in Butte, Montana, on December 15, 1942, and as he had volunteered for paratroop training, he was assigned to the Parachute School at Ft Benning, Georgia. After receiving his wings, PVT Ralph Fritz was transferred in grade from the 1st Parachute Training Regiment to Dog Co, 506th, on June 21, 1943. Soon after his transfer, he travelled to England with the regiment on the SS Samaria, leaving New York Harbor on September 5, 1943.
On D-Day, June 6, 1944, PFC Fritz made his first combat jump when he was dropped into Normandy, France. On June 13, he was lightly wounded in action, but returned from treatment in a hospital five days later. He left France from a Normandy beach somewhere between July 10 and 13, when the 101st paratroopers were shipped back to England. After his arrival in Hungerford, he was granted a 7-day furlough on July 15th, returning to duty on July 23rd.
On September 17, 1944, PFC Fritz made his second combat jump into the Netherlands at the start of Operation Market Garden. In an interview with Rodge Dowson, another Dog Company veteran, Bob Lundy, remembered the supreme sacrifice of Ralph Fritz :
“As 2nd Platoon, 2nd Squad was on the second floor of a warehouse on the outskirts of Eindhoven, they were watching German positions. As they rested and lay low, the men talked. Ralph told the others how excited he was to become a dad. He had all these wonderful plans,” Bob Lundy recalled. “Then we got orders to move out. We checked our gear and filed downstairs onto the street. I was behind Ralph. He turned left onto the street, and I turned right. A couple of minutes later, Ralph was shot and killed by a sniper.”
Another Screaming Eagle had soared to the ultimate height. 🦅
While preparing in England for the invasion, Ralph met and married an English girl, Lilian May Carhart, on an unknown date. When he went to fight the Germans, she was pregnant and gave birth to a little girl, Carole May, in Cubert, Cornwall, England, on November 6, 1944. She became a precious little girl and a beautiful woman, whom he did not live to see.
PFC Ralph Fritz died at the age of 22 in Brabant, the Netherlands, on September 17, 1944. On September 23rd, he was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery of Son. A memorial service was conducted at the Circle High School auditorium on Sunday, October 29, 1944. His body returned to the United States aboard USAT Barney Kirschbaum at the New York Port of Embarkation on January 3, 1949. At the end of the month, on Saturday, 22nd, Ralph was reburied after a funeral service was held at the First Lutheran Church of Circle. He rests eternally in the local Riverview Cemetery.
May he rest in peace.
Happy Birthday in Heaven, Ralph.
Lest we forget. 🇺🇸
Sources:
Family Search
NARA
Ancestry