Remarkable Ohio

Results for: medal-of-honor
8115 High St
Garrettsville

, OH

Evidence abounds that Garrettsville was at the center of the maple industry in Ohio from the 1880s into the twentieth century. In 1881, Garrettsville held the first ever-professional association of maple syrup/sugar producers, a tradition that continued annually into the early 1900s. The one square mile of Garrettsville was home to several maple syrup canneries in the 1880s and to syrup evaporator manufacturers. It was also the home to Lifesavers candy, originally a maple sugar based company. In 1893, Garrettsville sent a contingent of maple syrup and sugar producers to the Columbian Exhibition at the Worlds Fair in Chicago. In that year, a Garrettsville area farmer was awarded the first place medal for the best maple sugar in the world.

1000 Greenlawn Avenue
Columbus

, OH

Ovid Wellford Smith, aged 16, enlisted in the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry as James Smith. He volunteered for the 1862 “Andrews’ Raid” mission to destroy Confederate supply lines. Enroute Smith became ill and was detained near Huntsville, Alabama, prior to the April 12 capture of “The General” locomotive at Big Shanty, Georgia. He escaped and made his way back to rejoin his Army unit. On July 6, 1864, Smith and 5 other raiders were awarded the Medal of Honor. He mustered out October 1864 at the rank of corporal, after participating in the Battles of Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Missionary Ridge.

Corner of OH 213 and OH 152
Toronto

, OH

The General at Union Station in Chattanooga, Tennessee (circa 1907). Born in Knoxville in 1840 and reared at a farm in New Somerset, William Pittenger mustered into the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under a 90-day enlistment, in 1861. He fought at the First Battle of Bull Run and was the war correspondent for the Steubenville Herald. After reenlisting, he participated in the ill-fated Andrews Raid of 1862. While attempting to disrupt enemy supply lines, the raiders stole the Confederate locomotive “The General.” After being chased north, they were captured. (Continued on other side)

Lake Road (US 6)
Sheffield Lake

, OH

Around 1867, along the shale cliffs of the lakeshore of Sheffield Lake, Jay Terrell found fossils of a “terrible fish” later named in his honor as Dinichthys Terrelli. This animal, now known as Dunkleosteus terrelli, was a massive arthrodire (an extinct, joint-necked, armor-plated fish) that lived in the Devonian sea, which covered much of eastern North America some 354-364 million years ago. Dunkleosteus was armed with an incredible set of shearing jaws and was clearly the top marine predator in the Devonian Period (the “Age of Fishes”).

2026 St. Clair Avenue
East Liverpool

, OH

Envisioned as a rural cemetery with careful attention to landscaping design and symmetrical lots, the Riverview Cemetery was established in 1883 on forty acres of land. The chapel was a gift to Riverview from the Grand Army of the Republic, mostly Civil War veterans, and was dedicated on Memorial Day 1899. Plaques inside the chapel list 702 men from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia who served in the Civil War, including 311 who are memorialized or buried at Riverview. There are also plaques listing soldiers killed in World Wars I and II, Korea, and Vietnam. The rich history of East Liverpool and Columbiana County is documented in the burials at Riverview Cemetery.

7875 N Crescent Rd/OH 48
Covington

, OH

On February 15, 2005, Senate Bill 156 designated Ohio State Route 48 as USAF PARARESCUE MEMORIAL PARKWAY. The Parkway honors the memory of all Pararescuemen who perished in the performance of their duties. It is also a tribute to the Air Rescue men and women who died so “That Others May Live.” They made the ultimate sacrifice while attempting to save lives and provide aid to the injured, whether on training, civilian or combat missions. This selfless devotion is the finest example of Air Force Core Values: ” Integrity first, Service before self, and Excellence in all we do.” Pararescuemen Sgt. Jim Locker, MSgt. Bill McDaniel, SSgt Bill Pitsenbarger and AIC Jim Pleiman were all killed in action while trying to save their fellow man. Remarkably, they all hail from this general area of Ohio, the heart of America. They, and the others, will never be forgotten.

Locust Street
Ripley

, OH

Charles Young in Ripley. Upon his death in 1922, Colonel Charles Young was the highest ranking African American officer in the United States Army. Born into slavery in Kentucky in 1864, Young moved to Ripley with his parents Gabriel and Arminta in the 1870s. He excelled academically, graduating with honors from Ripley High School in 1881 and accepted a teaching position in Ripley’s African American school thereafter. Encouraged by his father, a Civil War veteran, mentored by J. T. Whitman, superintendent of the school, and John P. Parker, entrepreneur and former Underground Railroad conductor, Young sought and accepted, in 1884, an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was the third African American to graduate, in 1889, and the last to do so until Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. in 1936.

229 Mill Street
Middleport

, OH

General James V. Hartinger, 1925-2000, was born in Middleport, Ohio, and graduated from Middleport High School in 1943. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1949 and was a career-long fighter pilot with the United States Air Force, flying every type of fighter craft the Air Force procured during his 35 years of active duty. He saw military action during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Named commander-in-chief of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in Colorado Springs in 1979, he was promoted to four stars and became the “founding father” of Air Force Space Command. The headquarters building of Air Force Space Command is named the James V. Hartinger Building in his honor and the Hartinger Medal is awarded annually for extraordinary achievement in space.