Correspondent photo / Patricia Kimerer Ruth Ketzel, 99, sits in her condo at Shepherd of the Valley in Poland. Ketzel, who was born Ella Ruth Wallace, was an Army nurse during World War II. Ketzel traveled with several hundred other newly graduated cadet nurses on The USS Republic, a floating hospital ship that transported troops, among its other duties as a wartime vessel.

POLAND — Ruth Ketzel is an individual who has made her own positive mark on the world.

“Oh, I don’t know about all that,” she objects when labeled as an innovator, a groundbreaker and a heroine.

A nurse by trade, “Ruth,” as she’s known to her friends and family, was born Ella Ruth Wallace almost 100 years ago in Frizzleburg, Pa., which is located in nearby Lawrence County. Yet, at the ripe young age of 99, Ketzel still lives independently at Shepherd of the Valley retirement village in Poland and vividly retains many of her memories related to America’s involvement in World War II.

Especially the part when she and her nursing colleagues cared for fallen soldiers.

“We were too young to be scared,” she said repeatedly about she and her cohorts’ years as active military.

After graduating from nurses training at Jameson Memorial Hospital in New Castle, Pa., in February 1942, Ruth continued with advanced training at both the Cook County School of Nursing in Chicago, Ill., and the Deshon Army Hospital in Butler, Pa.

She passed her state boards soon afterward and joined the Army Nursing Corps on May 15, 1945, at the behest of her head nursing instructor. Ultimately becoming a 2nd Lieutenant, Ketzel traveled with several hundred other newly graduated cadet nurses on The USS Republic, a floating hospital ship that transported troops, among its other duties as a wartime vessel.

She wound up spending her 23rd birthday in Panama after passing through the Panama Canal on what was supposed to be a three-day stopover that extended into nearly a month.

It was there she helped tend to Seaman 1stClass George Montgomery, who was the first and only patient ever treated on board after he had an attack of acute appendicitis.

Although she was “en route to Saipan, according to my Army orders, in preparation of America’s invasion of Japan,” she and her fellow nurses were rerouted to William Beaumont Army General Hospital at Fort Bliss Texas, instead.

It was there she served out her remaining 15 months of service and was honorably discharged July 31, 1946.

She resumed civilian life as a nurse at Jameson Hospital and was promptly introduced, by her cousin, to fellow World War II veteran Harry John Ketzel.

“She thought we’d make a good couple because we’re both short,” she said.

She had much in common with the technical sergeant, including the fact that he had intended to enlist but was drafted prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Ketzel also learned that “Jack” had served a tour from 1941 through 1946 in the Medical Corps as an x-ray technician. They traded more stories about their experiences and eventually married on Dec. 20, 1947.

She said they had a lovely life together that produced a daughter, Amy Lynne and a son, Wallace. Amy died in 2019 from multiple myeloma.

Today, Ketzel has five grandchildren (two of whom are Marines) and seven great-grandchildren.

Although she took time off work to raise her son and daughter, she did resume work as a plant nurse at Rockwell International and also has been a volunteer hospital nurse for the Red Cross.

Long retired, she has lived independently since Jack’s death in 2014 and bought her current residence, a condo at Shepherd of the Valley, at age 93.

It was there she met friends Ed and Kay Lugibihl and discovered, at a Veterans Day party at the community center, that Ed, too, had served in World War II and traveled on The USS Republic.

“What are the odds that we would meet?” she said, noting how grateful she is for her friendship with Kay, who is now also widowed after Ed’s death in May.

Though son Wally and daughter-in-law Jean live nearby in North Lima and help Ruth regularly, she remains completely independent — except for driving.

“I love to read and go for walks so even the pandemic wasn’t all that bad,” Ketzel said.

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