Richard Jay (Dick) Kunkel, born March 1, 1918, husband of Margaret Hodges Kunkel, passed away February 21, 2011. He was the son of Jay Dee Kunkel and Charlotte Rachel Kerstetter Kunkel of Sunbury, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Baltimore where he completed four years in Baltimore City College High School, graduating in 1935. He attended Maryland Institute College of Art for two years. On May 15, 1941 he was inducted into the U. S, Army and sent to Pine Camp, NY to join the Fourth Armored Division. He was promoted to sergeant in August and sent as part of a cadre to Fort Knox, KY to organize the Fifth Armored Division. He graduated from Officer Candidate School May 15th 1942 and was sent to the 45th Division, training at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. Dick married Margaret I. Hodges in Baltimore December 5, 1942 and in 2010 celebrated their 68th anniversary. He served through eight campaigns in WWII. Dick was in General Patton’s Seventh Army for the invasion of Sicily and in Patton’s Third Army for the breakout from Normandy, France after D-Day, 1944. The war in Europe ended in April, 1945 for Dick and his XIX Corps at the Elbe River, just 25 miles from Berlin. Dick and several other senior staff members accepted an invitation from the Russians in Verbst, Germany, for a victory celebration. Later, Dick and 49 other troops were invited to Chicago for a Memorial Day parade and celebration. He returned home after the celebration, took the three month terminal leave that he had built up and retired from the Regular Army in February 1946. He joined the New Jersey 78th Reserve Division. Dick was awarded two Combat Bronze Star medals from the U.S government and Croix de Guerre medals from France and Belgium during the war. He also won a Commendation Medal from the Army Reserve. He was employed by the American Petroleum Institute (API) in New York in December, 1945. Margaret and Dick moved to Woodcliff Lake, NJ where he served as Elder and Sunday School Superintendent of a local church for 25 years. When the API moved to Washington, DC, Margaret and Dick moved to Kensington, MD and Dick served again as a Church Elder and Superintendent of a Sunday School in addition to Chairman of the Congregation. After he graduated from The Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, he was promoted to the rank of colonel and became Assistant Commanding General of II US Army Corps for Reserve Affairs in May, 1967. The Corps was deactivated in April, 1968, before his promotion to Brigadier General could be officially confirmed. Dick retired from the Army in1972 after 31 years of service. In 2005 he compiled a memoir of his military service. A copy is in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Margaret and Dick moved to Nashville, NC in 2001and joined the Rock Creek Baptist Church there .They had visited countries in six continents during the last thirty years of the 20th century. Dick is survived by his wife, Margaret; a daughter, Jean Kunkel Wieler, and her husband, Jeffrey, of Piedmont, CA; and son, Richard Hodges Kunkel, and his wife, Carol, of Nashville, NC. He is also survived by three grandchildren; Charlotte, Elizabeth and Richard; also, by Amanda and two great grandchildren, Olivia and Keali.
The family will receive friends from 12:30 to 2:00 pm Thursday, February 24, 2011 at Rocky Creek Baptist Church. Funeral service will follow at 2 pm in the church. Burial will be at Forest Hills Cemetery.
Arrangements are entrusted to Johnson Funerals & Cremations, 661 English Rd, Rocky Mount, NC 27804. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.johnsonfuneralsandcremations.com
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