KOSCIUSKO — Donald E. Ring, Claypool, was honored as the March 2017 veteran of the month at the Kosciusko commissioners meeting held Tuesday, March 7. Rich Maron, veteran affairs officer, presented Ring with a plaque.

Ring was born in Warsaw in 1925. He grew up in Claypool, attending school there through 12th grade. During his school years, he was involved in basketball and baseball. After graduating from high school, he was drafted at the age of 19. Ring joined the Navy April 4, 1944.

After completing basic training at the Great Lakes Training Center in Chicago, Ring was sent to different places for advanced training. His first assignment was in Little Creek, Virginia where he became part of the Naval Amphibious Corps. Ring’s unit was being trained for a land invasion on Japan when President Harry Truman dropped the atomic bomb on them, bringing the war to an end.

Ring spent the rest of his time in the service running liberty launch ships to shore until his discharge in June 1946. He states that if he remembers correctly, his time in the service was, “Two years, two months and two days.”

He returned home to Kosciusko County where he settled down and farmed land with his brother, Rodger, and his son, Kent, from 1947 until 2015.

Ring and his wife, Marian, have been married for 69 years. Despite the fact that Marian’s family lived only one road over from Ring’s family home while they were growing up, that road was on a township division line. Marian attended school in Warsaw while Ring attended school in Claypool so the two did not know each other well. It was not until after Ring’s return from the Navy that he and Marian began dating. According to Marian, the couple got to know each other after she accompanied her sister to the skating rink and Ring was there.

The couple have two sons, Kent (and wife, Kim) and Keith (and wife, Susan). They have also been blessed with four grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.