Once-hidden WWII letters now stored at national museum

MELBOURNE — Hidden inside boxes, stacks of U.S. Army Sgt. Donald B. Kimple's extensive letters home from Europe sat in an Ohio basement for nearly a half-century, concealed from the outside world since World War II.

Kimple died of brain cancer in December 2000 at age 82 in Lakewood, Ohio. His sons later discovered that their father's meticulous wartime correspondence offered a personalized view of some of the war's landmark events, including the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the liberation of Paris and V-E Day in Europe.

Their father had a unique perspective: Kimple served as personal secretary to the assistant adjutant general with the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in London, Paris and Frankfurt, Germany. SHAEF was commanded by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower.

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Some of Kimple's letters were written on SHAEF letterhead. Others were marked confidential — and one was written in code. The majority remained in their original envelopes, with vintage postage stamps affixed.

Kimple's son Bob, who lives in Melbourne, feared these irreplaceable historic artifacts would get lost or discarded — as has occurred in countless military families across America over the decades. So for the past six months, he has worked with curators and archivists at the National World War II Museum to donate his father's documents.

Now, the ​wartime journal of Sgt. Donald B. Kimple is permanently archived at the museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. The comprehensive collection includes about 120 handwritten and typewritten letters, telegrams and V-mails, which were letters printed on microfilm and exchanged between U.S. troops abroad and their families. The journal also includes about 60 postcards, more than 40 photographs and other military memorabilia.

"Every one of these collections is priceless, in the sense that it’s totally unique. Each one is individual, especially like the collection Mr. Kimple gave us. The letters and the postcards and the photographs and the personal records all tell a complete story of this person’s service," said Lisa Werling, processing archivist at the museum.

"This person kept such a complete narrative of his service. The other thing I really liked about his collection is, he had booklets describing Camp Barkeley in Texas where he got trained. People didn't keep that kind of thing. They just tossed it or didn't keep it with them when they went overseas. To have that little glimpse into that time period is so special," Werling said.

Each item will be cataloged for use by World War II researchers, museum staffers, educational programs and the general public. Werling said Kimple's collection will be stored in a climate-controlled vault — "this is going to be preserved for generations."

Bob Kimple worked on the family archive project with two older brothers: Donald M. Kimple, a retired U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant commander, and John Kimple, who served as a Navy anti-submarine warfare technician aboard the USS Wasp.

The National World War II Museum is in the midst of a multi-year $370 million expansion. Werling said the facility is tripling its vault space to accommodate new collections and archives, and she is working on an ongoing $10 million digitization project to post oral histories and photographs online for public access.

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Bob Kimple, 67, was a Navy photographer who served during the Vietnam War aboard the final tour of the USS Catskill, a mine countermeasures support ship. He keeps the U.S. flag that was placed atop his father's casket inside his Melbourne condominium.

"The powers that be saw something in him. He was an extraordinary typist. He had shorthand, stenography, terrific English, great vocabulary. And he just rose right up through the ranks," Bob Kimple said of his late father.

"His principal job was typing out the travel orders, and a lot of these movements of troops and personnel and higher-ups were confidential. Nobody moved anywhere without having orders in their hands," he said.

Donald B. Kimple could type 70 words per minute and take shorthand at 100 words per minute, according to his separation qualification record.​ His letters chronologically began with his Army recruitment in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania (Aug. 23, 1943) and ended with his final letter, “Going Home,” from Paris (Dec. 13, 1945).

Mindful of military censors, he sometimes referred to his location in vague terms such as “somewhere in England” or “somewhere in Germany.”

"I started piecing through this memorabilia and started opening up each of these envelopes, and reading his accounts. Once I discovered who he worked for and what he did, I said, 'Oh my God. This is of historical importance,'" Bob Kimple said.

"It really is spectacular to have learned about what he did. And I am so proud."

Contact Neale at 321-242-3638, rneale@floridatoday.com or follow @RickNeale1 on Twitter