The five will be inducted in a Nov. 5 ceremony at the Lincoln Theater in Columbus, joining nearly 480 who have been enshrined since 1993.
The selectees are “true visionaries and champions of community service,” Eileen Corson, a Ohio Department of Veteran Affairs spokeswoman, said in a statement. “They supported student veterans, worked to ensured their military brothers and sisters were connected to benefits, kept our communities safe, used their expertise to better their communities and represented veterans and all Ohioans on national committees in Washington, D.C.”
The newest class includes: Michael L. DeHart, 73, of Troy; Dennis DeMolet, 69, of Kettering; Waverly Glover, 93, of Springfield; Lynn E. Wolaver, 91, of Fairborn; and the late Thomas V. Francis of Russia, Ohio
• Decades since Michael DeHart left the Army and the Vietnam War behind him, he decided to reconnect with his former comrades by organizing a reunion in Memphis, Tennessee nearly a decade ago with former soldiers assigned to the 2/5 Calvary.
“Like a lot of guys, I went for a long time never talking about those times and late in life, like a lot of guys, things stated to gnaw at me and I went to visit the (Vietnam veterans) wall in D.C. and that kind of started it,” he said. The platoon sergeant who served a year in Vietnam, between 1968-69, had no contact with any of the soldiers since the war was over.
“It was almost like they were ghosts,” he said.
The homecoming turned into something more than he or anyone expected.
“..It was quite an emotional gathering,” he said. “We were a small outfit so consequently we were very close.”
The more he talked the more he recognized signs of post-traumatic stress in many, something he said he had dealt with, too. Some had signs of depression, denial, anger, or multiple jobs and marriages over the years, he said.
With his help, they sought counseling, prescription medicines, health care or filed for Department of Veterans Affairs benefits for war-connected injuries. And when they gather at reunions, they hear from experts on how to handle what they’re facing, he said.
“You try to make reunions fun, but at the same time you try to give them a little meat to chew on,” DeHart said.
• Dennis DeMolet made a vow to himself when he spent two years in a Navy hospital near Chicago in the 1960s because of severe burns the former Marine sustained in a building explosion in Da Nang, Vietnam.
“I made a commitment to myself to help veterans out for the rest of my life and not charge them,” the Dayton native said.
DeMolet has captured state and national honors for his advocacy for veterans over the decades. He started the first veterans club at Sinclair Community College, which spin-off chapters at the University of Dayton and Wright State University.
In the 1970s, he hosted a Middletown radio program to connect veterans with jobs, and started a training imitative to get first-time offenders, who were also veterans, jobs when they were released from the state prison in Lebanon.
In 2003, the U.S. Small Business Administration selected him as the national veterans small business advocate of the year. He was a past chairman of a federal advisory committee to the Small Business Administration under the Bush administration and a member of the president’s business round-table under the Obama administration.
“I was always supporting veterans one way or the other,” he said.
• Lynn E. Wolaver was a radio operator aboard a C-47 troop transport in the Army Air Forces in World War II, flying on missions over Europe. In a nearly four-decade long career at Wright-Patterson, he rose to become the dean for research at the Air Force Institute of Technology and wrote more than 60 technical papers in astrodynamics and bioengineering, among other fields.
But he has a full political resume, too, serving as a former mayor and deputy mayor of Fairborn, city council and planning board member and participation with numerous civic groups.
“I just got involved one after the other,” he said. “It’s sort of like paying rent for all the community has given you.”
“I think it’s interesting to get involved with your community to know what the issues are and what’s going on,” he said.
• Waverly Glover never left the ranks of volunteers when the World War II veteran was discharged from the Army. And he never expected at age 93 he'd be recognized for what he contributed.
“It means a great deal to me and to my parents,” he said. “They gave me everything they had, all the encouragement.”
A former Springfield assistant city manager and high-ranking supervisor over research and development at Wright-Patterson Air Force, he has served on the board of directors of Central State University, Opportunities Industrialization Center, Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport, the Urban League, Catholic Charities, and the YMCA and YWCA.
Waverly served six years on the U.S. National Commission for the United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), at the same time entertainers Sammy Davis Jr., Art Linkletter, and former child star Shirley Temple Black did, he said.
His biggest impact, he said, was as a Springfield assistant city manager in the early 1970s when he helped secure grants to improve the airport and expand the water and sewer network, he said.
“I think it was an opportunity, really, to demonstrate that we can make some things happen,” he said.
He established two scholarship funds for African-American students to attend Central State and Wilberforce. “My mother always taught me when good things happen to you, you have to give back,” the Central State graduate said.
• Thomas V. Francis, a Navy veteran of World War II, created the Thomas V. and Corrine R. Francis Family Foundation in 1995 after the death of his wife. The foundation contributes to veteran causes such as the Shelby County Vets to D.C. program.
The Shelby County resident founded the Francis Manufacturing Co. in 1946 and was co-owner and president of Superior Aluminum Products in Russia, Ohio.
The long-time volunteer firefighter counted himself a member of numerous veterans and civic groups. He died at age 90 in 2013.
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