SOLDIER NEWS:
Mrs. Dale Kounkel returned yesterday after spending a month with her husband, Dale Kounkel, at Camp Stewart, Ga. On the morning of the invasion every boy in camp put in a dollar to buy war bonds. They bought $25 bonds and the boys drew lots to see who'd get them. Dale was fortunate enough to win one of the bonds.
Source: LeMars Globe-Post, June 22, 1944
SOLDIER NEWS:
Mrs. Dale Kunkel is leaving this evening for Fort Jackson, S.C., for a visit with her husband Pvt. Dale Kunkel, who has been in the Army since March. He is in the infantry.
Source: LeMars Globe-Post, Nov. 16, 1944
PVT. DALE KUNKEL DIES OF WOUNDS IN ARMY HOSPITAL
Was Injured In Combat In Germany On March 13
Mrs. Dale Kunkel received word from the War Department Wednesday morning advising her that her husband, Pvt. Dale Kunkel, died of wounds June 4, in a hospital in England. Pvt. Kunkel was injured in combat on March 13 in Germany and had been transferred to England for hospitalization.
Pvt. Kunkel entered the service on March 31, 1944, and went overseas last January. Prior to entrance into the service he was employed for six years by the Plymouth Co-op, Oil Co. He was station manager in LeMars for some time and in October 1943, moved to Kingsley where he was manager until called into the service.
Dale Kunkel, son of Frank Kunkel of LeMars, was born on a farm in America township in December 1917, and grew to manhood in Plymouth County. He attended school in LeMars and on June 10, 1940, he was united in marriage at Oyens, Iowa, to Miss Dolores Masuen, who with two sons, Kenneth and Ronald, survive him. He is also survived by his father and the following brothers and sisters: Arthur of Remsen, Ed of Kingsley, Felix of Sioux county, Mrs. Albert Mayrose of Alton, Mrs. Agnes Thill of Remsen, Mrs. Caroline Langel of LeMars, Mrs. Nick Kneip of LeMars, Mrs. Lawrence Nuebel of Remsen, and Mrs. Donald Wernli of Vancouver, Washington. His mother preceded him in death on January 4, 1941.
Source: The LeMars Sentinel, June 22, 1945
WILL BESTOW MILITARY HONORS ON TWO WAR DEAD THURSDAY
Dale Kunkel Died Of Battle Wound
Survived By Wife And Two Sons
(the other soldier listed with his own obituary was Harm Kock)
Funeral services for Pvt. Dale Kunkel will be held in LeMars Thursday at 9 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Catholic church. Private Kunkel died in an Army hospital in England in an Army hospital in England June 4, 1945, after being wounded in Germany March 13 of that year.
Private Kunkel was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Kunkel. He was 26 years old at time of his death. His wife was the former Delores Masuen of LeMars.
He entered the Army March 31, 1944, and was stationed in United States in Camp Stewart, Ga., Fort Jackson, S.C., and Fort Meade, Md. He went overseas with the First Army January 4, 1945. He was a member of an infantry division.
He is survived by his wife, Delores, two sons, Kenneth and Ronald, and the following brothers: Art of Remsen, Ed of Kingsley; and six sisters, Mrs. Albert Mayrose, Alton; Mrs. Nick Kneip, Oyens; Mrs. Al Thill, Remsne: Mrs. Lawrence Nuebel, Remsen; Mrs. Caroline Langel, LeMars; Mrs. Don Wernli, Dallas, Oregon.
The body will arrive in LeMars with a military escort Wednesday, July 21, at 1:15 p.m. and will be taken to the home at 401 Fourth Avenue, NE from 4 p.m. until the time of the service.
LeMars Legion Post will provide a military funeral for Pvt. Kunkel. Arrangements are in the hands of Wiltgen’s Funeral Home. Msgr. J. D. Fisch will be in charge of the services.
Source: LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, July 20, 1948
***Further Research:
Dale Adolph Kunkel was born Jan. 26, 1919 to Frank A. and Clara Elizabeth Becker Kunkel.
From Find a Grave: (pics are posted on FAG)
Le Mars Sentinel, IA, Friday, June 22, 1945, pg. 1, col. 1
PVT. DALE KUNKEL DIES OF WOUNDS IN ARMY HOSPITAL Was Injured In Combat In Germany On March 13
Mrs. Dale Kunkel received word from the war department Wednesday morning advising her that her husband, Pvt. Dale Kunkel, died of wounds June 4 in a hospital in England.
Pvt. Kunkel was injured in combat on March 13 in Germany and had been transferred to England for hospitalization. Pvt. Kunkel entered the service on March 31, 1944, and went overseas last January. Prior to entrance into the service he was employed for six years by the Plymouth Co-op Oil Co. He was station manager in Le Mars for some time and in October, 1943, moved to Kingsley where he was manager until called into the service.
Dale Kunkel, son of Frank Kunkel of Le Mars, was born on a farm in America township in December, 1917, and grew to manhood in Plymouth county. He attended school in Le Mars and on June 10, 1940, he was united in marriage at Oyens, Iowa, to Miss Delores Masuen, who with two sons, Kenneth and Ronald, survive him. He is also survived by his father and the following brothers and sisters: Arthur of Remsen, Ed of Kingsley, Felix of Sioux county, Mrs. Albert Mayrose of Alton, Mrs. Agnes Thill of Remsen, Mrs. Caroline Langel of Le Mars, Mrs. Nick Kneip of Le Mars, Mrs. Lawrence Nuebel of Remsen and Mrs. Donald Wernli of Vancouver, Washington. His mother preceded him in death on January 4, 1941.
_ _ _
Also from the Le Mars Sentinel, IA, Monday, May 18, 2009 (see below)
Dale Kunkel will never be able to tell his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren the stories of what he saw and how he served in World War II. But today a new stone marks his grave. It tells the story he cannot. On Friday, along with 50 family members and friends, Dale's sons, Ronald and Kenneth, placed a new grave marker on his grave in Calvary Cemetery in Le Mars. Etched in the stone is Dale's story. A member of the 394th Infantry Regiment of the 99th Infantry Division, Dale bid his two sons and wife goodbye and left for war in the early 1940s. He would return in a flag-draped casket. In General Omar Bradley's 12th Army Group, Dale's units took the brunt of the German offensive. At the Battle of the Bulge on Dec. 16, 1944, Dale fought with his fellow soldiers, wounded and surrounded, holding back the final big German offensive in WWII. The Allied forces, including Dale, went on to take the Bridge by Remagen, the last standing bridge over the Rhine River. The Allied forces' success meant 8,000 U.S. troops, plus tanks full of supplies, could cross into the German heartland. That was Dale's final battle. On March 13, 1945, in the fight for the bridge, Dale became one of more than 400,000 American soldiers to die in WWII. Only two months later, May 18, 1945, Allied forces declared V-E Day, victory in Europe. The German forces had surrendered. Now, 60 years later near Memorial Day, Dale's family and friends gathered at his second grave site -- he'd been buried in England for five years and was brought home in 1949 -- to honor his memory. Commander Larry Baer and the American Legion Wasmer Post provided military honors, including "Taps" and a 21-gun salute. "We're showing our respect for a veteran who gave his life. We've done military funerals before, but we've never done this," he said of the ceremony marking the new stone. Richard Masuen, one of Dale's fellow soldiers, walked slowly to the microphone and spoke. He shared a memory of the time Dale turned to him and asked him to make a promise. "He said, 'Take care of my boys if something happens,'" Masuen said. Years later, Masuen would be the man to set Dale's original grave stone in Calvary Cemetery. "I visit the grave -- and it's always been a little stone," Masuen said, saying it didn't do Dale's service justice. Ron said he hoped the new stone would better fit the man he was proud to call "father." "This stone will continue to tell the story of these brave soldiers for 100 or 150 years," Ron said. "It's recognizing that generations -- the greatest generation -- meant something. There are so few left," he added. "We're proud to be able to do something so future generations will identify with them. They may not have known him, but now they know of them and how they served.”
Source: ancestry.com; findagrave.com
