Memorial

Biography

The story below is added at the special request of a great-granddaughter, Mrs. Heather Alexander Salzar: Claude Orville Kimball was born on 2 June 1920 in Lane County, Oregon, USA, to Millard and Fay Kimball. He married Anna Derwinna Brown on 2 June 1939. Claude joined the US Army on 29 March 1944. He was in the 320th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division. Claude and Derwinna's only child, Darlene Fay, was born 1 July 1944. She saw her father only one time in August 1944 before he returned to duty. She was nine months old when he was killed in action on 28 March 1945. Darlene married her husband Jesse Alexander and had two children, Wanda Fay and Phillip Orville. Claude has two grandkids and five great-grandchildren, one of which is myself. Phillip, my dad, named my brother, Justin Claude, after Grandpa Claude. For his service he received a Purple Heart and a Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster. My grandmother always talked about the part of her heart that was always missing. She loved a man she never had the opportunity to know, as does the rest of his family to this day. He will always be a hero to many, and to know that his memory will live on is comforting. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to his family of adopters. Knowing that he is loved and remembered for his sacrifice is beyond words.

More information

Pvt Claude Kimball enlisted at Fort Lewis, Washington on 29 March 1944.