D. C. Wimberly

Duvall Cortez Wimberly, Sr.
Born	(1917-09-14)September 14, 1917 Ringgold, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, USA
Died	January 27, 2007(2007-01-27) (aged 89) Springhill, Webster Parish Louisiana
Resting place	Wimberly Family Cemetery in Bienville Parish
Occupation	Educator Former president, American Ex-Prisoners of War
Religion	Southern Baptist
Spouse(s)	Inez Gamble Wimberly (m. 1943–2007)
Children	Sandra Wimberly Wren (born 1949) Duvall Wimberly, Jr., (born 1951) Virginia "Bess" Wimberly O'Malley (born 1955).
Notes
(1) Wimberly said that as an ex-POW in Stalag XII in Germany, he had learned to "help those who cannot help themselves." (2) Wimberly was awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and Battle Stars for his World War II service. (2) Wimberly was president of American Ex-Prisoners of War based in Arlington, Texas, from 1974-1975.

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 northwestern Louisiana.^[1]

Background

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 in Auburn, Alabama.^[1]

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.^[2] Wimberly retired from professional education in 1975. While he was still a principal, he ran unsuccessfully for the Springhill City Council. In a heated contest for the Louisiana State Senate in 1967, Wimberly signed a public letter of endorsement of Springhill native John Willard "Jack" Montgomery, Sr., who unseated incumbent Harold Montgomery of Doyline in south Webster Parish.^[3]

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. Mrs. Wimberly moved to Bossier City in 2011.^[1]

Wartime service

Wimberly recounted his wartime exploits: "On Thanksgiving night 1944 in Luxembourg, 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."^[1]

Wimberly was held 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 received the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and two Battle Stars.^[1]

D. C. Wimberly grave

He was named in 1971 the Louisiana chapter commander of the American Ex-Prisoners of War.^[4] In 1974-1975, he was elected national commander at the convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, in which capacity he was involved in budgeting, membership, publicity, and as judge advocate for the group.^[1]

He is interred at the Wimberly Family Cemetery south of Ringgold. 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 Louisiana House of Representatives between 1936 and 1956. His brother, Lucian McDade "Dade" Wimberly (1922–1990), was a Louisiana state trooper from Minden, the seat of government of Webster Parish, who ran unsuccessfully for chief of police in 1970.^[5]

References