Lt Roland H. Ritter, When Muncy Gave One Of Their Own, WWI

 
The Muncy American Legion Post #268 is named for Lt. Roland Ritter, who lost his life flying over enemy lines during WWI.

Born in 1892, the son of William Arthur & Abigail [Scull] Ritter, Roland graduated from Muncy High School in 1911, and Drexel Institute in 1916.

The following year, he enlisted in the "signal Reserve Corps", the military aviation service of the U.S. Army. He first trained at Columbus University, then went to England and Scotland to train with the British Royal Air Force.

Ritter in the Middle, June 1918

A member of the U.S. Air Service and Royal Flying Corps of the British Expeditionary Forces in France, Ritter was commissioned as first lieutenant in March of 1918.

Lt. Roland Hammond Ritter was killed while flying over enemy lines on August 24 1918.

Through efforts of the Muncy Historical Society, Muncy resident William G. Ritter and State Representative Don Sherwood, the Purple Heart and the World War I Victory medal and button have been awarded posthumously to Ritter’s uncle, Lt. Roland H. Ritter.

 

Lt. Ritters nephew William possessed two letters that his uncle had written home.  One reads:

Dear Folks, 

I have given all that I have am am sure I will have no regrets.  I have become pretty much of a fatalist and seem to feel that something is going to happen.  I have lived fairly well in the past and am not afraid of the future.

I like to think now that since one must go sometime, isn't it a most wonderful way to go, fighting for one's country and that fighting is done in the greatest way possible.  Of all the missions of people living today, it is very few who are granted such a privilege [flying].

I pray every day that I may come back home to you but if it is not meant ot be, be brave and realize that it is for the best.  I only wish I could express my thoughts as Alan Seeger does in his poems; they are well worth reading and express much that I feel.

God keep you well and make you happy - your son Rol

Ritter is buried in the Somme American Cemetery in France.

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Rendezvous by Alan Seeger

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I have a rendezvous with Death

At some disputed barricade,

I have a rendezvous with Death

At some disputed barricade,

When Spring comes back with rustling shade

And apple-blossoms fill the air--

I have a rendezvous with Death

When Spring brings back blue days and fair.

It may be he shall take my hand

And lead me into his dark land

And close my eyes and quench my breath--

It may be I shall pass him still.

I have a rendezvous with Death

On some scarred slope of battered hill,

When Spring comes round again this year

And the first meadow-flowers appear.

God knows 'twere better to be deep

Pillowed in silk and scented down,

Where love throbs out in blissful sleep,

Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,

Where hushed awakenings are dear . . .

But I've a rendezvous with Death

At midnight in some flaming town,

When Spring trips north again this year,

And I to my pledged word am true,

I shall not fail that rendezvous.

There is a marker for him in the cemetery at Muncy Pa, as well.

Records of the 1931 Mothers Pilgrimage, from Lycoming Co Pa to France

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I came across Lt. Ritters Photo at the Muncy Post Office, along with this display of clippings and medals.

Fred L. Smith