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War hero named parade marshal
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| Photo courtesy of Janet Shailer |
| World War II veteran Richard Neff will be this year's grand marshal of the Grove City Community Parade on Sept. 19. |
By Janet Shailer
Southwest Franklin County Historical Society
Richard "Dick" Neff is a humble man, an average Joe, a former soldier who just wanted to serve his country in 1943 and come home to Grove City. Never did he think he would become a World War II hero - a tag he wears with hesitation and would rather give to his fellow soldiers.
Neff, 86, will be honored as the grand marshal of the Grove City Community Parade on Sept. 19. He will ride the parade route in a World War II-era Jeep with a driver provided by Warren Mott of Mott's Military Museum.
The theme of this year's parade is "Saluting our American Heroes." Watching along the way will be the family he raised in Grove City, who never knew the story of his heroism until the war had been over for 50 years.
When Neff was a boy, his home sat directly east of Endres Saloon (now Plank's) and two doors west of the old Grove City Jail. Neff was such a hard working teenager that the town marshal, Bill Willing, gave him the job of turning off the village's lone traffic light at the corner of Broadway and Park Street. His task was to trot over to the jail and pull a switch that would extinguish the light at 9 p.m. He worked other assorted part-time jobs to help support his family.
In 1941, Neff graduated from Jackson Township High School and went to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad. He met his future wife, Louise Ruisinger, while walking along Whittier Street in German Village not far from her home. They dated until he was drafted into the Army Air Corps and began training as a tail gunner in a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber.
Neff was assigned to the 15th Air Force, 463 Bomb Group, 772nd Bomb Squadron stationed in Foggia, Italy near the Adriatic Sea. During his 17th sortie on April 29, 1945, Neff's plane was shot down over Yugoslavia. Five of the 10 crew members bailed out of the plane - Neff was the last one. As he parachuted down to earth, the Germans fired at him. After landing in a tree, Nazi soldiers captured the young GI and took him to a prison camp.
Neff eventually escaped from the camp and was hidden in a cave by a local farmer sympathetic to the Allies. He survived on scraps of food the farmer gave him. After VE Day, May 7, 1945, Neff walked around the nearby village and surveyed the damage done by the Nazis. A boy who spoke some English then led him to a small church and told him the villagers had found his downed plane and had buried his other five crew members in the parish cemetery. On May 23, Neff was rescued by the British as he was walking along the road. Neff was awarded an Air Medal with an Oak Leaf Cluster, five Battle Stars and the MIA POW Medal.
After the war, Neff returned to a 43 year career on the railroad, married Louise and raised his family. It wasn't until the 50th anniversary of World War II that he asked a writer-friend to compose his biography so the family could know about the sacrifices and horrors of war. At the same time, he joined a central Ohio MIA/POW group that honors its fellow military heroes at various events. His biography is included in the archives at Motts Military Museum in Groveport and other places.
Watching along the parade route will be his five daughters, 12 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren. His beloved Louise passed away in 1999.
When asked his reaction to being selected as parade marshal, Neff said he was hesitant.
"I debated whether to accept it. I was indecisive," he said. "I've been trying to forget (the war) all these years."
It's still hard for him to tell the story of his time in captivity or about the loss of his crew mates. Instead, Neff hands out copies of an essay written by Claire Fournier that appeared in the Feb. 1997 edition of "Ex-POW Bulletin" that sums up his feelings.
It says in part, "After many years of his internal war, it still rages on in his soul... An ex-prisoner of war was an enthusiastic young man who fought in a war and, as an older man, continues to fight it in his mind."
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