D.C. Wimberly
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Duvall Cortez Wimberly, Sr. (September 14, 1917 - January 27, 2007) was a United States Army soldier taken prisoner of war in the European theater of World War II and a past national commander of American Ex-Prisoners of War, a veterans organization based in Arlington, Texas. He was also an educator and school administrator for thirty-seven years in Bienville and Webster parishes in northwest Louisiana.
Wimberly was a cousin of Lorris M. Wimberly, a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Bienville Parish who also served on three occasions as Speaker of the House between 1936 and 1956. His younger brother, Lucian McDade "Dade" Wimberly (1922-1990), was a Louisiana state trooper from Minden, the seat of Webster Parish.
[edit] Biography
Wimberly was born to Dempse Wimberly and the former Arvie McGinty in Ringgold in Bienville Parish. He graduated from Ringgold High School in 1934 and received a bachelor's degree in 1940 from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches. He obtained a master's degree in education from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in 1946 and post-master's instruction thereafter from Auburn University.
Wimberly first taught in Bienville Parish and then in neighboring Webster Parish, where he was principal in four different schools: Sibley High School (1947-1949) in Sibley, Shongaloo High School in Shongaloo (1949-1954), and thereafter Springhill Junior High School and Browning Elementary School, both in Springhill. He retired in 1975. While he was still a principal, he ran unsuccessfully for the Springhill City Council.
In 1943, Wimberly married the former Inez Gamble, a native of Grand Cane in De Soto Parish. They had three children: Sandra (born 1949, Duvall, Jr., (born 1952) and Virginia "Bess" (born 1955). Wimberly died of a blood disorder in Springhill, where he had lived since 1954.
[edit] Wartime service
Wimberly recounted his wartime exploits: "On Thanksgiving night 1944 in Luxemburg, the members of the German Army counterattacked my battalion. Companies E and F were wiped out. I was the Third Platoon sergeant. . . . I lost forty-six men from my fifty-man platoon. Three others and myself were captured. That night and the next few months [we were] starving, freezing, walking over lots of Germans from southwest Germany to northeast Poland and back to south of Berlin. I felt, and to this day feel, [that] I am living on borrowed time. I have assisted my fellow Americans as a school teacher, administrator, Mason, and Shriner, [having] dedicated my life to the Christian effort of 'helping those who cannot help themselves.' This is also the motto of American Ex-Prisoners of War."
Wimberly was held in in Stalag XII and several other camps. He was liberated by the Russians on April 22, 1945, escaped on May 9, and discharged from the military on December 12, 1945. He won the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and two Battle Stars.
He headed the American Ex-Prisoners of War in 1974-1975, having been elected at the national convention in Las Vegas. He was involved in budgeting, membership, publicity, and as judge advocate for the group.
He is interred in the Wimberly Family Cemetery near Ringgold.
[edit] References
Categories: 1917 births | 2007 deaths | American educators | American military personnel of World War II | Recipients of the Bronze Star medal | World War II prisoners of war | Northwestern State University alumni | Louisiana State University alumni | Webster Parish, Louisiana | Bienville Parish, Louisiana | Baptists | Recipients of the Purple Heart medal | People from Springhill, Louisiana | People from Louisiana
