World War II --- And Some Gave Their All

As we celebrate this Memorial Day we want to feature several of the Waterville men who were sent to fight on foreign soil in W.W. II and did not return. Their biographies can be found at the Wakeman Archives.

RALPH WAFFLE, usually known as “Bill”, graduated from Waterville High School in 1933. He worked at American Can, farmed his father and grandfather’s land and served as a Boy Scout Leader. He was drafted into the Army early, in February 1942, only three months after the declaration of war. After basic training he was sent to Officers Candidate School at Fort Knox, KY. Graduating as a 2nd Lt., he was assigned to the Second Army, 67th Armored Division. He served in North Africa but never in combat. He was sent to England in January 1944, to train for the Normandy invasion of Europe. The Waffle diary ends abruptly in April 1944 probably due to censorship and top secrecy about the impending invasion. He and his unit finally landed there just six days after the initial assault, on June 12, 1944. Fighting their way through France, Lt. Waffle was killed in action at St. Lo on August 12, 1944. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for refusing medical aid while leading his men in battle. Left to mourn were his parents, Leroy and Bessie Waffle, sister Lois and his fiancé Miss Betty Thompson of Toledo.

ELLSWORTH GRAF, son of Albert Graf, himself a W.W. I veteran and a Mayor of Waterville, was a 1939 graduate of Waterville High School and President of his class. He was inducted into the Army in March of 1943, served basic training as an infantry man and was shipped overseas (probably to England) in September 1943. The Archives has no record of his experience there, but we assume he trained in England and moved into Europe after the initial D Day invasion. He was part of the 1st Army, 115th Infantry. The record finds him stationed in Holland October 22, 1944 behind the front lines but close to the front. He says in a letter that he has been assigned as a runner for the Regimental Commander. In a November 9, 1944 letter he is still in Holland, living in a two man foxhole with a pup tent over. He is cold and wet but getting hot food from their field kitchen. He says he has been in England, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. He sent a letter home dated November 15, 1944 saying he was preparing to be sent into action. He was killed in action in Germany (or Belgium) November 20, 1944. We have a photo, dated November 20, 1946, of his temporary grave, a simple cross with his name, serial number and grave number from a battlefield cemetery in Margraten, Holland. The photographs were taken and sent to his Waterville family by a person he had befriended in Holland. His body was returned to Waterville after the war and is buried in Wakeman Cemetery. On the left is Ralph Waffle and right is Ellsworth Graf.