4 military veterans recognized for heroism, service at 8th annual Ford Oval of Honor

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio — Four area military veterans were recognized for their heroism Thursday night at the eighth annual Ford Oval of Honor.

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Staff Sgt. Amos Benjamin, USMC (Ret.), was keynote speaker for the event at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force presented by Reynolds and Reynolds.

Benjamin, who experienced multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, followed in the footsteps of his older brother and grandfather who were also Marines. Benjamin was medically discharged from the Marine Corps in 2013 for traumatic brain injury from multiple IED blasts in Afghanistan that caused extensive brain damage, which required him to learn how to speak again.

“We are pleased to highlight for the eighth straight year Dayton Area Veterans with the Ford Oval of Honor recognition,” said Jim Bob White, Dayton Ford Dealer Advertising Fund director. “This is the perfect occasion and location to recognize and honor those who have served our country so heroically. We are thrilled to have as our presenting sponsor Reynolds and Reynolds for the fourth straight year.”

The 2024 honorees include:

* Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class, D. Ralph Young: U.S. Navy. (Pacific Theater). He served on the USS J. Franklin Bell and was part of the Invasion of Tinian as well as the Battles of Saipan, Leyte, and Okinawa. He is the author of “Forgotten Warriors I and II” and a member of the University of Kentucky College of Engineering Hall of Fame

* Staff Sgt. Arthur L. Kemp: Army Air Corps. B-17 Tail Gunner (European Theater). He was a member of the 351st Bomb Group 508th Squadron, participated in 16 bombing missions from June 6, 1944 to Aug. 11, 1944. Accolades include the Air Medal with five Oak Leaf Clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Kemp celebrated 100th birthday Feb. 9

* Cpl. James D. Williams: Marine Corps (posthumous recognition). He served in the Pacific Theater and was an Iwo Jima Purple Heart recipient. Williams died May 2, 2024.

* Staff Sgt. Michael L. DeHart: He earned the Army Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star w/V-device, Bronze Star for Meritorious Service, Air Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, and Purple Heart. In 2009, he was inducted into the Ohio Military Hall of Fame and in 2015, the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.

Each recipient of recipient’s survivors received a Ford Oval of Honor cherry shadowbox as part of their recognition.

This was the 55th Ford Oval of Honor event conducted regionally since the first one held on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 in 2011 in Cincinnati.

Honoree recipients now total nearly 300 and have included a Doolittle Raider, a Defender of Pearl Harbor, six D-Day Invaders of Normandy, four Tuskegee Airmen, numerous “Hanoi Hilton” Vietnam POWs and eight individuals who have already received our nation’s highest recognition -- the Congressional Medal of Honor.

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