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- Ronald Eugene Rosser was the oldest son of nine boys and eight girls to John Milton and Edith Marie Riffle Rosser. He enlisted in the Army at seventeen in 1946 and served for three years before working briefly as a coal miner after his discharge in 1949. In 1951, he reenlisted after the death of his brother, Richard Rosser, in the Korean War.
On January 12, 1952, then-Cpl. Rosser and the rest of Company L, 38th Infantry Regiment faced an attack from two directions near Ponggilli, Korea. Cpl. Rosser charged the enemy trenches alone until he exhausted all of his ammunition and returned to his Company for more. He courageously repeated these actions three times, killing at least thirteen enemy combatants. Though he was wounded, he repeatedly crossed open terrain under enemy fire to remove his fellow wounded soldiers whose injuries were more severe than his own. Of the 170 men who were with him that day, only 68 returned. Ninety were killed, with 12 more listed as missing in action.
The Medal of Honor was bestowed upon Rosser by President Harry Truman on June 27, 1952, for his acts of service above and beyond the call of duty.
Ronald Rosser served his country as a soldier in the United States Army for twenty years (some of which he spent working as an Army Recruiter in West Palm Beach, Florida) before retiring in 1968. He attempted to reenlist a second time following the death of his brother, PFC Gary Edward Rosser, USMC, during the Vietnam War, but his request was denied.
He was appointed the honorary title of a Brevet Colonel in the Ohio Militia and was also inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame. Additionally, he briefly taught at Roosevelt Junior High School in West Palm Beach, Florida after graduating from Atlantic University. Later in his life, he became the Police Chief of Haverhill, Florida and worked at the Department of Veteran's Affairs.
Ronald Rosser passed away in Bumpus Mills, Tennessee, at the age of ninety. He is survived by his daughter and numerous other family members and is burred at the Iliff Cemetery in McLuney, Ohio.