Ohio family surprised to learn soldier’smedal in Dutchmuseum
U.S. soldier RalphL. Bourn was killed on a German battlefield duringWorldWar II.
The Purple Heart that he received 75 years ago is now on display at a museum in Europe. His Ohio relatives didn’t know it was there.
Robbert Morsink, 29, owns the 99th Infantry Division, Collections & Stories museum in the Dutch municipality of Meppel in the northeastern province of Drenthe.
In a note to the Beacon Journal, hewrote: “Iamfrom the Netherlands, I own my own 99th Infantry Division collection and I got a Purple Heart medal from Ralph L. Bourn fromAkron, Ohio. He was Killed in Action in 1945 inGermany duringWWII, he was a member of the 99th ID. I am looking for more information on this person, maybe some relatives who can help me with a picture of him.”
Morsink developed an interest in the war at age 14 following a history lesson in school. He started collecting memorabilia at 18 and narrowed his focus to the 99th Infantry about five years ago.
Nicknamed the “Battle Babies,” the U.S. Army division of relatively inexperienced soldiers held firm against German troops during theBattle of the Bulge. By the war’s end, the division had suffered 6,553 casualties, including 993 soldiers killed in action and 4,177 wounded.
Morsink’s private collection, which is open to the public, includes Bronze Stars, Silver Stars and six Purple Hearts from 99th Infantry soldiers killed in action. He also displays military uniforms, documents, photographs and personal items fromthe families of soldiers. His Facebook page is a tribute to the 99th Infantry.
“I try to keep their story alive so they will never be forgotten,” he wrote. “It means allot to me. People are alsowelcome to visitmy collection.”
He said he acquired Bourn’s PurpleHeart froma collector intheUnited States. “I reallywant the medal for my collection so Imade him a fair offer,” he said.
He declined to identify the collector or the amount he paid.
“I think I keep the prices formyself, but it is not cheap, can I tell you,” he wrote.
Whowas Ralph L. Bourn? Born in SpringfieldTownship (Summit County) in 1921, he was the second eldest
Army Pfc. Ralph L. Bourn, 23, was killed in action March 1, 1945, near Cologne, Germany. ADutch collector purchased the PurpleHeart of Pfc. Ralph L. Bourn. of Ralph and Hazel Bourn’s seven children. His siblings wereWillajean, Donald, Ellis (aka “Bud”), twins Jack and Gene, and Sandra.
BournattendedSpringfield High School in Akron, where he played football and baseball and belonged to thegym and science clubs. Themotto next to his senior portrait in the 1941 yearbook reads: “Be seen, but not heard.”
Following graduation, Bourn worked at Akron’s General Tire, where he built barrage balloons for European cities to defend against warplanes. He enlisted in the Army on Aug. 26, 1942, and served in the air corps, training soldiers about barrage balloons and performing military police duties at CampTyson, Kentucky; Fort Bliss, Texas; and St. Petersburg, Florida.
“I’m down here in the sunny south and enjoying this Army life very much,” Bourn wrote in a letter to his parents Feb. 10, 1943, from Kentucky.
Before going overseas, Bourn married his high school sweetheart, Helen Romig. Hewas killed before their first anniversary.
Despite training for 27 months with the air corps, Pfc. Bourn was transferred to the 395th Infantry Regiment. He arrived in France onFeb. 1, 1945, andwas killed exactly onemonth laternear Cologne, Germany, whenthe truck in which he was riding hit a land mineMarch 1. He was 23 years old.
Bourn was buried in Belgium,
and his body was returned to theUnited States three years later for reburial in 1948 at Akron’s Ellet Memorial Cemetery, now known as Hillside Memorial Park on Canton Road. His bronze marker is in Section 12, Lot 64.
Contacted about the Purple Heart, Bourn’s relatives expressed surprise. They weren’t aware that themedal existed.
“I don’t knowhowsomebody else got ahold of that,” nephew Gary Bourn said. “It’s something that usually families don’t get rid of.”
Thesoldier’swidowremarried and had children, and hewonders if the medalwas bequeathedtoheirswhohad no connection to his uncle.
“Idon’t knowif she passed awayandmaybeherchildren had no need for something like that,” he said.
It’s kind of a strange thing, he said.
“We might not ever know why the medalwas available, but it would be interesting to find out,” he said.
The sale of Purple Hearts is controversial. U.S. Rep. Paul Cook, R-Calif., a U.S. Marine who received two Purple Hearts in combat in Vietnam, introduced a bill in 2016 (and reintroduced it in 2019) that would make it illegal to sell the medals.
“ThePurpleHeartisasymbol of sacrifice and heroism awarded to thosewhowere killed or wounded in combat,” Cook said in prepared statement. “It’s not a collector’s item. Profiting from re-sale of the Purple Heart medal has to stop. The fact that thismarket exists cheapens the sacrifice of the service members who earned them. The best way to preserve the honor of our veterans is to ensure that the medals end up with whom they belong: the families of those who earned them.”
Under the bill, Purple Heart sellers would face a fineandsixmonthsinprison. The legislation has stalled on Capitol Hill.
Meanwhile, the nonprofit group Purple Hearts Reunited, formedinVermont in 2012, is on a mission “to return lost, stolen and misplaced military medals of valor to veterans or their families, in order to honor their sacrifice to the nation.”
Ralph L. Bourn’s niece Ame Henley doesn’t know howthe PurpleHeart ended up in the Netherlands. She has chatted back and forth online with Morsink since learning about her uncle’s medal.
“At first, to be honest with you, I wanted the Purple Heart back,” she said. “But the morewe thought about it, if it could be in amuseum where more people could see it, that would be a great honor to him.”
Henley emailed photos of her uncle to Morsink along with copies of documents and other information. The family owns a 4-foot-wide photo of Bourn with more than 50 soldiers, and it’s signed bymost of them. It’s been stored in a box in her mother’s home, and they’re considering parting with it.
“I think I’m going to send that to him to put in the museum,” she said. “Imean, Iwish itwas in the States, to be honest with you, but it’s not. It’s fate, I guess.”
Her family owns a home in Scotland, and she would like someday to make a side trip to the Netherlands to see the museum.
“I definitely am going,” she said.
Henley said she’s just happy to honor her uncle.
“He paid the ultimate sacrifice and I think it’s quite an honor just to keep his name alive and hismemory alive,” she said. “So that’s what’s important.”
Morsink thanked Bourn’s family for being “really kind tomeand really helpful with information.”
What’s important, he said, is to tell the story of the brave menandwomenwhoserved during World War II.
“I try to keep the stories alive,” he wrote. “And never forget what they done for us.”
‘He paid the ultimate sacrifice and I think it’s quite an honor just to keep his namealive and his memory alive.’ Ame Henley
PFC. Ralph Bourn’s niece