On Memorial Day, Barberton WWII hero to be honored with memorial at Lake Anna
A decade ago, Barberton resident Ernie Penko had an inspiration.
The VFW Post 1066 commander had always wondered how the city’s only Medal of Honor recipient had been killed. What was his story and why hadn't it been told?
After news reports from the World War II era, little light had been shed on Howard Woodford, a staff sergeant who had earned the nation’s highest military decoration. Only seven individuals in Summit County have received the congressional Medal of Honor.
War heroes: Summit County’s seven Medal of Honor recipients
Penko wanted to change that, hoping to educate the city and surrounding area about a young man who had died protecting his comrades in a 1945 battle as U.S. troops moved to retake the Philippines from Japan. A memorial near the Barberton Military Honor Roll site at Lake Anna seemed fitting; a plaque that detailed some details about his service just didn't seem sufficient.
“I had the idea about 10 years ago, but we just didn’t have the money,” Penko said recently.
A fire that swept through the post on May 23, 2020, didn't help, draining funds from the post as it rebuilt.
2020 VFW tragedy: Fire heavily damages inside of Barberton VFW
But the hope to create a permanent memorial for a soldier whose feats have been blurred in the fog of time has became a reality.
"On Memorial Day, we honor the dead, and he got the highest honor possible," said the post's vice commander, Dennis Antal.
In a public ceremony 10 a.m. Monday with Lake Anna as the backdrop, the post is dedicating a 2-ton granite memorial dedicated to a soldier who died violently as he tried to advance an attack 77 years ago.
It's designed to resemble memorials at the Ohio Veterans' Memorial Park in Clinton, Penko said. The park is located at at 8005 S Cleveland Massillon Road.
“It was a grenade [that] got him in the head,” Penko said. “… I got a copy of a letter that was sent to [Gen.] Omar Bradley.”
In the Oct. 22, 1948, letter addressed to Woodford’s father, Bradley praises the young soldier for his “distinguished acts of heroism.”
“As one of his fellow soldiers, may I tell you of my own great admiration for his heroic achievements,” Bradly wrote.
In his research, Penko found that Woodford had died in a foxhole while protecting a position captured by a guerilla force. The fighting took place at night, and in the morning, Woodford was found dead in the foxhole, surrounded by 37 enemy soldiers.
It’s a story Penko believes should not be forgotten, and on Memorial Day 2022, it won't.
The Howard Woodford memorial for actions in Luzon
The memorial to honor Woodford has its own story.
It was shipped from India to Summit Memorials on West Wilbeth Road, where Ken Noon runs the family-owned Akron business.
There, Noon created a design for the memorial on the computer, printing out a rubber overlay to guide sandblaster Tom Wise.
By mid-May, most of the engraving had been completed for the Memorial Day dedication. Penko and Antal visited Summit Memorials on May 13 to inspect the monument.
Because of the memorial’s weight, said Noon, it was scheduled to be set the Friday before Memorial Day using extraordinary means to protect from cracking or other damage.
“For the setting of it, we have to use dry ice,” said Noon. “… In order to get the straps off, we have to set it on [blocks of] dry ice.”
After the straps are removed, the frozen carbon dioxide gas melts and the memorial settles into place, he said.
On Friday, Penko said the setting went off without a hitch.
A city of war heroes
Two sides of Woodford’s memorial remain uncarved, waiting for another Medal of Honor hero, but remaining unscathed in the meantime in the hopes no name will have to be added.
Penko said the service Memorial Day was scheduled to pay homage to another World War II hero, whose fate became known late last year.
Buford Dyer, who served in the Navy, died during the attack on Pearl Harbor while serving on the USS Oklahoma. Light was shed on his fate by the use of DNA technology to identify military remains.
More: Barberton sailor Buford Dyer: A life cut short at Pearl Harbor 80 years ago
“We’re going to have a moment of silence for him,” Penko said.
Dyer’s remains were recently buried with little fanfare at the Western Reserve National Cemetery in a private ceremony. Penko said Dyer came from the poorest section of Barberton.
“He [lived on] South Canal Street,” Penko said. “When I was little kid, they had tar-paper houses and they grew their own tobacco.”
The Post 1066 commander said he hopes Woodford’s memorial will help preserve the memory of a Barberton war hero who deserves to be honored for his service.
“It will educate everybody for umpteen years to come,” he said.
Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him at aashworth@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: On Memorial Day, Barberton hero Howard Woodford honored with monument
