Ralph Joseph Kyttle Sr.
T/4 in Signal Co, Special : Inst & Maint; Telephone & Wire
Military occupational specialty: 641 (field lineman)
ASN#31248983
Born 1921 in PA, Died 2003
County of residence at enlistment: New Haven County, CT
Other residence(s): Shickshinny, PA; Madison, CT; Guilford CT
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: semiskilled brick and stone masons, and tile setters
Ralph Kyttle was born on February 12, 1921 in Shickshinny, PA*, the fifth of ten children. His father was a farmer, and Ralph left school after the eighth grade to work on the farm. In 1939, a newspaper article indicated he was living in Connecticut, but in the 1940 census he was back home in Pennsylvania, and was listed as an "unpaid farm worker." Six of his nine siblings were still at home, and his two older brothers were also working on the farm.
Ralph registered for the draft on February 16, 1942; by then he had gone back to Connecticut, living in Madison and working at a gas station there. He enlisted on November 10, 1942, at which time his occupation was recorded in the category of "semiskilled brick and stone masons, and tile setters."
Ralph was assigned to the Signal Company Special, and saw service in Europe with the unit during the war. He was discharged on October 26, 1945 with the rank of T/4. The following year, on April 27, 1946, he married Phyllis Cutone in Chester, CT. He and Phyllis would go on to have three children: Cheryl, Ralph Jr., and Adele.
By 1950, Ralph's parents and several of their children had moved to Madison, CT as well; his father worked at a gas station and his mother managed a grocery store. Ralph and his wife and oldest daughter were also living in Madison, and he was working as a coin machine operator. A 1963 city directory for Guilford, CT lists him back in his trade as a mason.
In 1973, Ralph was running Kyttle Septic Service of Clinton, and his eponymous business was called Kyttle Sanitation Cleaning in 1982. But it is likely he had started the business earlier, since in 1968 he was serving as chairman of the disposal committee for the Connecticut Sewage Disposal Association. Later he was elected to the Board of Directors of that association.
Ralph died in Madison, CT on February 27, 2003 and is buried with Phyllis at West Cemetery in Madison.
*Shickshinny was created in 1861 out of parts of Salem Township and Union Township. But it is a residential/business town and the nearby farms are likely in one of the two townships. Kyttle's address during his years in PA sometimes shows up as Shickshinny, sometimes as Salem, and sometimes as Union; these may all actually be the same location of his father's farm.
Sources:
1930 census
1939 article in The Mountain Echo (Shickshinny PA) indicates he is living in CT
1940 census
1942 draft card
1942 enlistment record
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8939/records/6804036?tid=4804360&pid=24212158484&ssrc=pt
1944 WW2 hospital admission card files
1946 marriage record
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/70865/records/901152?tid=4804360&pid=24212158484&ssrc=pt
1950 census
1950 census (his parents and siblings)
1963 Guilford CT directory
1968 article in the Hartford Courant (CT) re his occupation and community work
https://www.newspapers.com/image/370840652/?match=1&terms=ralph%20kyttle
1973 article in the Hartford Courant (CT) re his occupation and community work
https://www.newspapers.com/image/372478756/?match=1&terms=ralph%20kyttle
1982 Guilford CT directory
1991 US Public Records Index
2003 VA death record
2003 Social Security death index
2003 Find a Grave record