STAFF SGT. WETZEL C.
KIMBALL
SACRIFICED HIS LIFE IN WWII
“No Sacrifice Could Be Greater Than That.”
Staff Sgt. Wetzel Camden Kimball
Staff Sgt. Wetzel Camden Kimball was twenty-three years old when he joined the Air Force. Born in Cove, Doddridge County, WV on July 16, 1917, he was the son of Doddridge County native, Coleman Ervin, and Milee Owen Kimball.
Wetzel graduated from Doddridge County High School with very high marks in 1936 along with one of his best friends Babe Underwood, who met up with Wetzel while in England before that fateful mission. After high school, Wetzel attended Potomac State College in Keyser, WV for 2 yrs., where he worked as a laboratory assistant, and attended Salem College for 1 yr. During which time he was a member of three fraternities.
He worked for Cove Valley, Block Co., Rice Electric Co., War Production Board at Washington D.C., and as an elementary school teacher here in Doddridge County.
Twenty-three-year-old Wetzel was connected to the War Production Board at Washington, D. C. prior to his entry to the U.S. Air Force on June 9, 1942, where he became a tail gunner. At the time that he joined the Air Force, he was working for the Fuller Brush Company.
Lt. Ray (1st on left) and S. Sgt. Kimball (2nd from right) are in this squadron photo.
He served with the 8th Air Support Command, England, and then the 9th Air Force in England and France, classified as an armorer-gunner he was a tail gunner.
On April 25, 1943, Wetzel married Miss Margaret Camille Owen of Madison County, TN while he was stationed in Florida before being ordered to England. Margaret was the daughter of Harris Emile and Katherine Aldersen Owen. I did not find any reference to children.
Staff Sgt. Kimball spent thirty days in the States before going on that fateful mission. He had completed seventy missions by the time he came stateside. It was expected that he would spend the Christmas Holidays with his wife, who was staying with her parents in TN at the time and his own parents who were living in Parkersburg.
On November 25, 1944, Staff Sgt. Wetzel Kimball boarded the B-26 Marauder, lovingly named “The Five by Fives” with his fellow crewmembers: 2nd LT James Padgett who was the navigator-bombardier of a crew, 2nd LT William Floyd Ray (pilot), 2nd LT Dennis Jones (co-pilot), CPL Preston Prejean (radio operator-gunner), S/SGT Raul Pompa (engineer-turret gunner), and CPL Wesley Anderson (tail-gunner). Padgett Prejean, and 2nd LT James Dubois (deputy lead navigator/bombardier). Kimball should not have been on that mission. He was substituting for Anderson, who was sick or on assignment.
Photo of the “Five by Fives”
Their B-26 (43-34151) which was initially assigned to the 558th Bomb Squadron (KX) of the 387th Bomb Group, but at some point, it was reassigned to the 557th Bomb Squadron (KS) of the same bomb group was the lead plane on the bombing mission. After completing their mission over Kaiserslautern (meant to “soften” the German defenses as Gen. Patton’s 3rd Army was rushing to capture the city), they were returning to air base, A-71 (Clastres) when “Five by Fives” crashed about 20 miles east of it, near Housett-LaNeuville.
Father Joseph Houyoux, who organized the rescue of the crewmen, the Depercenaire family, who took Lt. Ray and Lt. Jones who were slightly injured, and Staff Sgt. Pompa who was severely injured, and the bodies of the fallen airmen (Staff Sgt. Kimball, Staff Sgt. Padgett, and Lt. Dubois) into their home, and the villagers of Housett-Neuville, who assisted in the rescue and recovery effort were truly heroes that day.
Lt. Ray was from Texas. Jones was from New Jersey. Padgett was from Burns City, Indiana. Prejean was from Lafayette, Louisiana. Pompa was from Texas. Anderson was from Minnesota. Kimball was from Doddridge, WV, and Tennessee. Dubois was from Neenah, Wisconsin.
Dave Jones (nephew of Wetzel Kimball), who has done extensive research on the airfield where Wetzel was stationed, wrote that the field is abandoned now, but it was used as a NATO base for a while. There are no structures there anymore, but the runways are there and the roads around the field were the taxiways. The field has four huge windmills on it now so is easy to find. They show up on maps and you can see the perimeter of the field.
A shrine to the four Maraudermen was erected by the people of LaNeuville, located southwest of Saines, France. The memorial honors the memory of Wetzel Camden. Kimball, who was a Doddridge County native son, James L. DuBois of Neenah, WI, James W. Padgett of Burns City, IN, and Preston L. Projean, of Lafayette, LA. Wetzel Kimball and his fellow soldiers were killed on November 25, 1944. The memorial also commemorates two other people who were killed in World War II.
This monument at the crash site in La Neuville Housset was erected in 1947 and refurbished and rededicated in November 2001.
Staff Sgt. Kimball was returned home to his wife, Margaret, in Jackson, TN. Griffin Funeral Home officiated the services. He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Tennessee.
In July of 1945, Mrs. Kimball received the Flying Cross and Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, posthumously awarded to her husband at the Dyersburg Army Air Base. The presentation was made by Col. C. D. McAllister, commanding officer.
Margaret Kimball receiving her husband’s medals posthumously.
Father Houyoux, who was at the small village after the crash of the B-26 Marauder and was with them before they died, met with Mrs. Louis DuBois (mother of DuBois) and Staff Sgt. Kimball’s wife, Margaret, at the DuBois home. He told the story of the crash. Saying, “All seven members of the crew were returning from the mission just prior to the Battle of the Bulge when the plane crashed. The airmen were taken to a farmhouse nearby. He was called to come immediately. He in turn called American doctors and ambulances. When the three surviving members of that crash came back to consciousness, they were far away in an American hospital and couldn’t remember anything about the crash. The plane was but 10 minutes from its base when it crashed.
Father Houyoux came to New York by plane and from there went to Montreal, Haiti, Cuba, and Puerto Rico to attend youth conferences in those French speaking countries. On his return, he came to Neenah to see Mrs. DuBois and Mrs. Kimball who flew from FL to be a guest at the DuBois home while Father Hoyoux was in the city.
After a detailed search, I could not find evidence that Margaret remarried. She died on November 13, 2002, at Heartland Health Care, Hanahan, SC. After 57 years waiting, she was reunited with Wetzel in Hollywood Cemetery. She was 87 years old.
***
Sgt. Kimball wrote a touching letter to the editor of the West Union Record seven months before he was killed.
It was published May 11, 1944:
“Somewhere in England, April 10, 1944”
“Editor of the Record:
It may be of interest to your paper and the Herald to know that some of the West Union boys had a reunion here during the week from March 26 to April. James “Babe” Underwood, one of my best friends during my high school days had written me. Since it was my good fortune to have a leave, I had little trouble locating his outfit. He was a little surprised to see me as it had been over three years since we met. If a man ever looked in the pink, he does. For a week it was almost like old times. The only difference is that now we are soldiers with a big job before us.
Babe and I are in different outfits. He is the first sergeant in his tank outfit (tough-looking like you read about) and is well liked by all his men. I am in the Air Force. Some day when the big day comes, we in our job can look down with pride on his outfit and others like it and know that in all the world no army can compare with those boys. I believe I’m expressing the opinion of many when I say I’ll be glad to see the invasion start. All we are waiting for is the “green light.”
I found tanks very interesting, and Babe fixed it so I could go for two nice rides with him. They were very interested in my work but no more so than I was in theirs. They would like to be in the Air Force for a change and I’d like to try the tanks awhile. Regardless of that, each of us are very proud of our respective outfits.
Allen Hardesty was located very near in the same outfit. He looks in perfect physical condition. His is a very responsible position in a tank and he’ll carry his end of it any day. We spent a couple days in a large English city and enjoyed it very much. Both he and Babe are going to visit me when they can.
Some other West Union boys were not far away but we didn’t get to see them. Ross Bode, and Allen Davis. “Bud” Henderson is in the Air Force here, too, and many others. Several Doddridge boys are here to do their part in what is to come and there are others who have already given their lives for their country. Roy “Jewy” Underwood was one of those boys of whom all Doddridge should be proud. He gave his life to save his fellow soldiers. No sacrifice could be greater than that.
I have received the Record at irregular intervals, and it always contains news of interest. Give my regards to the other boys to all our friends in Doddridge. We hope to be back some day before long to see all of you.
Your friend,
Wetzel C. Kimball”
“Just a line to let all of our friends know that we are getting along well. We are just waiting for the word to start the big invasion that everyone had been reading about. I have promised Wetzel if he and his friends will take care of things above, that my outfit and others will take care of things on the ground.
Your friend,
James W. Underwood”
God Bless
Patricia Richards Harris
Doddridge County Historical Society