Mapleton Men With the Armed Forces
1st Lt. Jack Kemp, son of Mr. & Mrs. John Kemp of Mapleton, is visiting here for a few days. He is an instructor in the Field Artillery center at Fort Sill, OK.
Source: Mapleton Press, January 7, 1943
BURIED IN MILITARY CEMETERY IN FRANCE
Killed in action against the enemy in Alsace-Lorraine, France, 1st Lt. John “Jack” Kemp of Mapleton has been buried in a military cemetery near where his death occurred, with appropriate services, according to a letter received this week by his wife, Mrs. Beulah Kemp, from Lt. Col. Arnbrecht, commanding officer of the Field Artillery battalion that Lt. Kemp was serving in when he made the supreme sacrifice March 18.
“He was an excellent officer and a splendid soldier of whom you may always be proud,” Col. Arnbrecht said in his letter expressing his sympathy and that of the other officers and men of the battalion to Mrs. Kemp and Lt. Kemp’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Kemp of Mapleton.
Lt. Kemp’s battalion was attached to the “Trail Blazer” division with General Patch’s 7th Army in northern France, just across the German border, at the time of his death.
Born in Sioux City, November 10, 1917, he was graduated from Mapleton high school in 1935. He directed his own orchestra for several years and then enrolled in the University of Iowa where he graduated from the Commerce school in June 1941. During several summers he managed the Mapleton swimming pool.
Enlisting in the Army August 13, 1941, he was graduated from the Field Artillery Officers Training school in Fort Sill, Okla., in March 1942, the first Mapleton young man to receive an officer’s rating in the present war. He remained at Fort Sill as an instructor several years and later was at Camp Adair, Ore., and Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., before going overseas just a few months ago.
He was married to Miss Beulah Vine Wolfe of LeMars in the St. Ambrose Cathedral in Des Moines, April 26, 1943.
He is survived by his widow, his parents and one brother, Robert Kemp of Mapleton. Mrs. Kemp has been residing here with his parents for several months. She is visiting in LeMars at the present time.
Source: The Mapleton Press, April 5, 1945 (photo included)
S. W. Iowa Casualties
The following casualties of southwest Iowa servicemen have been reported.
KILLED (European Theater)
1st Lt. John J. Kemp, wife Mrs. John J. Kemp, Mapleton [Monona Co].
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Sunday, April 10, 1945, Page 6
John Jacob Kemp is buried in Saint Marys Cemetery, Remsen, IA.
Source: ancestry.com
