World War II Vet Surprised by 90th Party

COURT HOUSE – For weeks, Leanna Marinello planned the surprise party for her father’s 90th birthday. All that planning paid off July 19 when her dad, Milton Ryder (Milt), arrived at Nino’s restaurant completely unsuspecting of what was coming.
“He had no idea,” said Ryder’s daughter, “he thought we were going out to a quiet dinner.” Marinello wanted her father’s 90th to be special and even though she lives in Florida she wanted it to be celebrated among the friends and family with whom he had spent most of his life.
Ryder was born in Court House and still lives, seven months of the year, in the house where he was born. The family engaged in a variety of businesses including farming, trucking, food service and camp grounds. When World War II broke out, Ryder, a patriotic graduate of Middle Township schools enlisted in the Navy. Somehow or other, he said, he ended up in the U.S. Army and did his training in Mississippi.
It was February 1943. He was assigned to the 1st Army, the Big Red A, and in December 1944 found himself in Belgium’s Walloonia region in the Ardennes forest. There the Allies were caught off guard by the German offensive known as Operation Watch on the Rhine. It was their last major effort to stop the Allied invasion.
That winter was one of the coldest and snowiest on record. When asked about his recollection of the Herculean struggle, Ryder replied, “Well it was cold.”
The recipient of three Bronze Battle Stars took no special credit but said he was just doing his duty like everybody else. Ryder’s nonchalant attitude is typical of his generation. His face-to-face encounters with German soldiers came later in the Ruhr valley in Germany when thousands of them surrendered to the Americans.
When Ryder and his brother Wallace returned home they became entrepreneurs. Ryder did not give his heart easily and only married at the age of 39. “I married a much younger girl from Florida,” he said. They had three daughters, Lanna Marinello, Lucinda Wiadock and Leana Marinello. He now has five grandchildren – four grandsons and one granddaughter. Gregory Marinello, 14, was there to celebrate his grandfather’s birthday, proud to be the descendent of a real hero.
Ryder’s appearance belies his chronological years, looking like a man 20 years younger. He spends the winter in Florida with his daughters in West Palm Beach and returns to his roots in the spring. He keeps his mind fresh with reading and his body and spirit with gardening.
Marie Jadick, a family friend whose parents were long-time friends of his, said the number of those who showed up to express their love and share their joy was a testimony to the kind of man Ryder is. Three Battle Stars, a family, successful businesses and solid community roots all confirmed that she is right.
To contact Helen McCaffrey, email hmccaffrey@cmcherald.com.