Obit: Klimpke, Dennis – SP/4 (1946 – 1968)

Transcriber: Pam Harders - posted4u@charter.net 

Surnames: Klimpke, Akey, Dawson

----Source: Tribune/Phonograph (Abbotsford, Clark Co., Wis.) 18 Apr 1968

Klimpke, Dennis – SP/4 (17 OCT 1946 – 15 APR 1968)

Sp/4 Dennis Lee Klimpke, 21, a rural Colby soldier, was killed in action in Vietnam, April 15, 1968. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Klimpke Sr. of route 2, Colby. The family lives about one mile west of Colby (Clark Co., Wis.) on Highway N.

The family was notified of his death Tuesday. The communication stated that "he died in Vietnam, April 15, as a result of wounds received while on a combat operation, when hit by fragments from a hostile anti-tank round."

Nothing more is known of the circumstances.

The family also received a letter from Dennis, written April 11. In it, he stated that he was in the infantry, serving in the delta area.

He was previously wounded February 27 with shrapnel injuries to his arms, but was sent back into combat.

Dennis was inducted into the Army August 7, 1967. He underwent basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and then received additional training at Fort Gordon, Georgia. After a short furlough at home, he left three months ago, January 15, for Vietnam, arriving there January 19.

He was engaged with plans to be married this June.

Dennis Lee Klimpke was born at Cherokee October 17, 1946. The family moved north of Curtiss and he attended grade school at Curtiss. He attended the Abbotsford High School for three and one-half years, and completed his senior eyar and graduated from the Colby High School.

He was employed at the Colby Cheese Factory and L.C. Christensen and Co., and was working at Packaging Corp. of America at Colby at the time of his induction into the service.

Funeral arrangements are not complete. The body is expected to be returned within a week or ten days, and will be at the Maurina Funeral Home at Dorchester.

Besides his parents, he is survived by eight brothers and sisters, Clarence Jr., Dorchester, Harold at Kenosha, Roger of Curtiss, Mrs. John (Connie) Akey of Colby, and Donna, Nancy, Kevin and Lori Ann, all at home.

A brother, Ronald, was killed in an automobile accident. Two sisters and a brother, Carol, Beverly and Ricky, died in infancy. Ricky died last month, shortly after birth.

Also surviving is a grandmother, Mrs. Flora Dawson, and a grandfather, William Klimpke, both of rural Athens.