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Pfc Ronald W. Helps enlisted on 8 April 1943. After basic training at Camp Croft he was sent to Georgetown University in the Army Special Training Program.

He was married to Joan Shaw on 4 July 1944 when he served at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
At the bus stop in Ridgewood, on his way back to Fort Dix, he boarded, walked back about three-quarters of the length of the bus and leaned out of the window to kiss Joan goodbye. She was a short person so someone had to hold her up to reach him, but they managed a long final kiss, much to the delight of the local assemblage, until the bus driver released the brake and drove away.

After helping with a police action to calm transportation strikers in Philadelphia, he was sent overseas on 22 September 1944.

TImmendorf had just fallen easily but the defense at Apweiler was stiff. His unit got orders for his first attack assignment, on Apweiler for November 17 but overnight the Germans had reinforced their position.

During an artillery barrage he and two sergeants took shelter in a German trenche but the trench took a direct hit. It took three weeks to identify his remains.