WEST SALEM, Ohio — There’s a room full of memories inside one West Salem home. It’s the room where John Runkle grew up. Now, it’s the room where his mother and stepfather go to remember him.
News 5 anchor Rob Powers sat down with the couple, Chris Runkle and Darin Lewis.
Runkle said her son knew he wanted to serve after 9/11 happened during his senior year of high school.
“I’m very proud that he heard the call to serve our great nation,” she said.
John Runkle was ambitious, with his eye on becoming an officer.
He served in Korea and Iraq before going on to graduate from the United States Military Academy in West Point. Then his unit was deployed to Afghanistan.
“He had been in Afghanistan three months when he was killed,” Chris Runkle said.
John Runkle was killed by an IED at 27 years old. Now, the holidays hit hard in their West Salem home.
“The only thing I can do for my son – I can’t give him a gift so what I do for him is, we get a wreath,” Chris Runkle said.
They don’t just place a wreath on his grave at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery.
They’re active volunteers with the national non-profit Wreaths Across America.
It’s a year-round effort to rally the funds and volunteers to place a beautiful holiday wreath on the graves of every fallen soldier at participating cemeteries. Like ours, in Seville.
Lewis calls it “our little Arlington” because of its beauty. He works to organize donation drives at the Medina Career Center where he works and gets the kids involved in this volunteer effort, too.
“I’ve had students show up that actually have family members out there and a lot of my students don’t realize that this is going on.”
Every person involved, from those laying the wreaths to the ones driving the trucks packed full of them, is volunteering their time. The local effort is organized by the Ohio Western Reserve ladies, co-chaired by Kat Frey and Becky Clark.
“When you get to be at the cemetery for this event, it’s amazing,” Frey said.
She has family buried at the cemetery in Seville. Clark is an Ohio National Guard retiree.
“We talk a lot about not forgetting,” she told News 5. “This is one of those opportunities every year where that really hits home." The effort doesn’t come without its challenges. There are more than 45,000 people interned at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery. This year, local volunteers have raised enough money for 8,000 wreaths.
“One of the things that we’re up against right now is when you see family that is there afterward and realizes that their loved ones didn’t get a wreath,” Frey said.
This local force of volunteers hopes that one day they’ll be able to blanket the entire cemetery in a stunning display of support and service. This year, when the wreaths are laid on December 16, the couple will be there doing their part with the rest of the volunteers.
“It’s a tough day,” Chris Runkle said. “I usually end up crying at some point.” But they’ll get through it by taking the time to pay their own, personal tribute, as well.
“We have our own time,” Lewis said. “We spend our time with John.”
If you want to donate to Wreaths Across America, you can go to this web page to search for the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery and have your wreath directed there. Any donations that come too late for 2023 will be applied to the 2024 event.
