ZINN MEMORIAL GARDEN
Eagle Scout Project by Timothy G. Klotz
Orland Park Boy Scout Troop 383
Forever remembering Orland Park’s two time United States Olympian,
United States Military Academy Graduate and first casualty in Vietnam. United States Army Captain Ronald L. Zinn was born in Peoria, Illinois on May 10, 1939. He was the first child of Lloyd “Bill” and Beverly Zinn and the older brother
of Jerry and Joyce. The Zinn family moved to Orland Park in 1953 when the population was 800. The family first lived in Old Orland, then near St. Michael Church, and in 1958 moved to Elm Street in the original Orland Hills Subdivision. Because Carl Sandburg High School had not opened, Ron Zinn attended Orland Park High School at 143rd and West Avenue. When Sandburg opened in 1954, he went there and graduated in 1957. At Sandburg, Zinn was on the honor roll and excelled in sports. In 1957, he was named the school’s most valuable athlete. He would eventually become the first US Olympian to graduate from Carl Sandburg High School.
“Ron was one of the most determined individuals you could ever meet,” Jerry Zinn said of his older brother. “If there was a challenge, he was up to it.”
“I could only wish for his determination to work as hard as he did,” his sister Joyce recalled. “He worked at Palos Country Club before he went to school. My mom would drive him at four o’clock in the morning.”
Zinn briefly attended Cornell University before being admitted to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was the first West Point cadet to represent the United States in the Olympics. He graduated from West Point in 1962. Ron Zinn represented the United States in the 1960 and 1964 Olympics, competing as a race walker. He placed 6th in the 1964 Olympic 20km walk, offering one of the top performances in walking for an American at the Olympics. He placed third in the same event at the 1963 Pan American Games and from 1960 to 1964, Ronald Zinn won 12 Amateur Athletic Union walk titles for various distances. “They expected him to take first place in the 1968 Olympics,” his sister recalled. Zinn was especially proud of being honored with a Brigade Parade at West Point after his Olympic participation in Rome in 1960. “He was proud but humble,” Jerry Zinn remembered. Ron married his wife, Barbara, shortly before being deployed to Vietnam in May, 1965. Lieutenant Colonel Roy S. was the original company commander, then as a captain of Company B, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry from 1963 to 1965.
“Ron joined Company B shortly after our deployment to Vietnam on 5 May 1965 and immediately demonstrated his physical fitness, which gained the respect of his platoon,” Lombardo recalled.
“As a new platoon leader, Ron devoted himself vigorously to learn the infantry skills necessary for success in combat,” Lombardo recalled. “He deeply cared for his subordinate which was the basis for his heroic rescue efforts to aid his wounded squad leader and led to his being killed in action,” he said. After his death, the company named their camp after their beloved friend calling it Camp Zinn. Zinn was posthumously promoted to the rank of captain.
“Ron Zinn represents what is good, noble and honorable,” his brother said. “He was just 26 years old at the time of his death and had been married for six months. Captain Ronald L. Zinn is buried at the West Point Cemetery in West Point, New York. His headstone bears two emblems that were very important to him, his military wings and the Olympic emblem.
“There will always be things in life that we do not want to do; but we will do them, if we are to succeed.”
US Army Captain Ronald L. Zinn
