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William R. 'Bill' Ruth Silver Spring, MD QCWA # 19537 Chapter 91 |
CW4 William Roderick Ruth, 57, a veteran of two wars and of nearly 30 years as a social studies teacher, died in the September 11 attack on the Pentagon. A US Army chief warrant officer, Ruth lived in Mount Airy.
On the evening of September 10, he had presided over his first meeting as commander of his local VFW post, where he is being remembered as a good friend, an avid Redskins fan and a motorcyclist who enjoyed riding in Maryland's rolling hills.
"He'd do anything for anybody," said auxiliary member, Dottie Norwood. His absence for the past week has hurt terribly. "It has hit everybody hard", she said.
Ruth served in the US Marines during the Vietnam War [Vietnam Service Medal], where he was a helicopter pilot. He would later tell friends of the missions he flew, evacuating the wounded and the dead.
After he left Vietnam, he received a Master's degree and taught for nearly three decades, most recently at John T. Baker Middle School in Damascus. He was a voracious reader and taught deep lessons in history, said one of his colleagues there, Linda Gross.
"He was an absolute intellect", she said. But he also was a caring mentor, taking kids on field trips and helping younger teachers, she said.
He served in the US Army Reserve. When the Persian Gulf War broke out, he was pulled out of the classroom and sent to the Middle East.
In 1997, Ruth retired from teaching and took an Army job at the Pentagon. When news of the attack broke, Gross said she couldn't believe that Ruth was at the Pentagon. She chose to hope he was in Canada, closing up his fishing cabin on a river. Now that the reality of his loss is real to her, she said, "I firmly believe he lost his life because he stopped to help somebody."
Ruth was awarded a Purple Heart.
The divorced father of two adult sons, Ruth lost one of them, Chad, in an automobile accident about a year ago. Chad Ruth's organs were donated and Ruth met his son's heart recipient.
His surviving son, Sean, attends West Virginia University.
(Source: pentagonmemorial.org)
Chief Warrant Officer William R. Ruth, US Army, Pentagon
On the morning of Sep 11, David Ruth, of Alliance, Ohio, received an e-mail from his brother, William, at the Pentagon. The e-mail included photos from the brothers' trip to their summer cottage in Ontario, Canada. They had returned to their homes the Sunday before.
About two hours after that e-mail, terrorists slammed a commercial airliner into the Pentagon. William Ruth, 57, an Army Chief Warrant Officer and retired middle school teacher from Mt. Airy, Maryland, was killed. (His last school was John T. Baker Middle School in Damascus,[Montgomery County] Maryland. Since then, his family has found solace in remembering him.
He was a Marine who piloted helicopters in Vietnam, remained in the National Guard and was called to serve again in the Persian Gulf War. He taught school for more than 25 years in Montgomery County Maryland before retiring in 1997. He spent his spare time at the cottage in Canada, said his mother, Jane, and was a devoted fan of the Washington Redskins. He watched their games at the local VFW Post in Mt. Airy, where he served as post commander.
Ruth lost a son, Chad, in an automobile accident two years ago. Chad's organs were donated and today a formerly dying man lives. Ruth's youngest son, Sean, 20, is a student at West Virginia University and serves in the West Virginia National Guard.
(Source: THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE)
This was Bill Ruth's America.
The trees were ablaze in glorious colors as we drove along Route 183 through hilly Northeast Ohio last October.
Forests of vivid reds, yellows and oranges enchanted us.
So did the villages.
Like Mineral City, Magnolia and Malvern, with old homes and porches, mom-and-pop stores and sunlit church steeples. And Minerva, festooned in scarlet and gray for the high school homecoming game.
Bill must've made that trip countless times, zipping down Route 183, his dad's Plymouth packed with crewcut pals from Alliance, his hometown eight miles away.
That was our destination on this beautiful fall day.
A melancholy journey.
Fairmount Memorial Park is a 40-acre cemetery with 6,300 grave sites.
Bill's is one of them.
I wasn't sure how I'd react when I found his grave site. I've lost loved ones like my parents and made my peace with their passing.
Yet Bill's death still hurts me.
I still can't believe he.s gone.
Finding his grave marker was overpowering.
After a few moments, I knelt to say a prayer, put down some flowers, then ran my fingers over his name and read the inscription:
CW4 US ARMY
VIETNAM
PURPLE HEART
Bill Ruth perished at the Pentagon that dark day when terrorists crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into it, killing 184 innocent people.
He was 57, an Army chief warrant officer at the Pentagon, Gulf War veteran and former Marine helicopter pilot in Vietnam.
He was a father, a retired teacher.
He was the big brother I never had.
Ours was a bond forged when we met at Bowling Green State University in northwest Ohio's flat farmland, so unlike this rolling countryside.
It was 1969.
Forty years.
So many memories like the leaves falling silently around me.
Watching some bad football teams at BG with Bill and feeling no pain.
Putting me up at his condo in Rockville, MD, when I was out of work.
Refereeing kids sports with Bill for Montgomery County Recreation.
Hanging out at the Beowulf in downtown Washington, listening to the DJ spin tunes by a new artist named Springsteen.
Attending Bill's wedding in Alliance, my only other trip there.
Holding his first son as godfather.
Flying up in June 1991 for his homecoming after the Gulf War.
It was a mighty party, but it was the welcoming Bill received that Monday morning at his school I will cherish always.
The gym was packed and decorated in red, white and blue at Baker Middle School in Damascus, MD.
A hush fell over the audience as the girls glee club serenaded Bill.
As they sang, each girl presented him with a yellow rose.
"Nothing like that ever happened to me when I came back from 'Nam," he said afterward as we hugged and I left to catch my flight.
It was the last time I saw Bill alive.
We had planned to get together again.
I never dreamed it would be for his memorial service in Mount Airy, Md.
One Pentagon survivor who spoke said she'd heard Bill's voice after the impact, but he'd stayed behind to help others escape the inferno.
Bill had died a hero.
He'd always been mine.
Now he's buried near his parents and surrounded by Ohio hinterland in all its autumn allure.
Bill Ruth's America.
I put my hand over his name once more and then covered my heart.
Then I reached into my coat pocket.
I pulled out a can of beer, opened it and set it down by his grave marker.
'Til we meet again, brother, I said.
'Til we meet again.
(Source: http://www.bradenton.com/2010/05/30/2323265_a-journey-to-see-a-fallen-friend.html#storylink=cpy)
William R. Ruth, 57, Army chief warrant officer
A memorial service for William R. Ruth, an Army chief warrant officer who died in the Pentagon terrorist attack, will be held at 3 p.m. tomorrow at Calvary United Methodist Church, 305 S. Main St., Mount Airy. He was 57 and lived in Mount Airy.
He was a helicopter pilot in the Marines during the Vietnam War. He retrieved the wounded and the dead on combat missions. A member of the Army Reserve, he was called up to serve in the Persian Gulf war.
On the evening of Sep 10, the night before the terrorist attack, he led his first meeting as the newly installed commander of the Mount Airy Veterans of Foreign Wars.
An amateur astronomer and ham radio operator, he also fished on the Crowe River in Ontario, Canada, where he had a cottage.
Born in Knoxville, TN, he was a graduate of Bowling Green University in Bowling Green, Ohio. He had also studied at Ohio State University.
He taught social studies for nearly 30 years in the Montgomery County school system. He last taught at John T. Baker Middle School in Damascus. In 1997, he took the Army job at the Pentagon.
He is survived by a son, Sean Ruth of Mount Airy; his mother, Jane Ruth, his brother, David Ruth, and a sister, Martha Ruth, all of Alliance, Ohio. A son, Chad Ruth, died in 1999.
Memorial contributions may be made to the William Ruth Scholarship Fund, in care of the Mount Airy VFW, Mount Airy 21771.
(Source: The Baltimore Sun)
Chief Warrant Officer William R. Ruth
"All gave some, some gave all"
November 29, 1943 - September 11, 2001
Chief Warrant Officer William R. Ruth of Mount Airy, Md., was assigned to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel. He served in the Army and the Maryland Army National Guard for more then 30 years.
Born in Knoxville, Tenn., he was a graduate of Bowling Green University in Bowling Green, Ohio.
Ruth taught social studies for nearly 30 years in the Montgomery County school system. He last taught at John T. Baker Middle School in Damascus. In 1997, he began working at the Pentagon.
He is survived by a son, his mother, his brother, and a sister.
Sun, 26 Jan 2020 20:48:09
Hi Bob NØUF,
I was a colleague of William Ruth, who died at the Pentagon September 11th. I taught with Bill at John T. Baker Muddle School in Damascus, MD. I.m still there.27 years now. I named our National Junior Honor Society after Bill and would like to contact his son, Sean. Do you have any contact information for him? I.d like Sean to know how we honored his father.
Sincerely,
Tina Claxton
