Ralph Lentz

Birthplace: Hutchinson, KS

Branch of Service: Navy

Unit: San Diego Destroyer Base

Theater of Operation: American

Highest Rank: Seaman 1st Class

Honored By: The Eisenhower Foundation

Ralph “Gene” Lentz grew up in Hutchinson, Kansas. He was in eighth grade when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, and Lentz wondered if the war would still be going on when he was old enough to join. Knowing he would be drafted, Lentz enlisted in the Navy. He liked his job in San Diego and looked at the muster roll each day to see if he would be shipped overseas. That day did not come.

While in the service he met his future wife, who grew up a few miles from Hutchison.