People of PEA RIDGE
World War II veteran; former Springfield News-leader employee Today I met Mr. Ralph Thornton. I was playing with a silver dollar while we spoke and I asked him what year he was born; “1921”he told me. This just so happened to be the same year stamped on the coin I had been carrying in my pocket — which had been given to me as gift about an hour before meeting this man. What are the odds?
The day before, Dec. 7, was the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and Ralph remembered listening to the news report on the radio as it came in that day. He then volunteered to serve our country in the U.S. Army. He told me he taught around 30 men how to use a rifle for the first time. “Lots of guys from the city had a hard time compared to farm boys (like him) who grew up doing that stuff.”
He proudly recalled working the “Gothic Line” in northern Italy in 1944 and described “pushing the Germans back” and holding the mountains. He led a small group of men and had more than 100 days on the front line.
Ralph then worked for decades in the publishing section of the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader newspaper. He recently relocated to Pea Ridge to be closer to one of his daughters.
Editor’s note: This People of Pea Ridge is provided by Sgt. Brandon Davis of the Pea Ridge Police Department as he interacts with the people of Pea Ridge.