Courtesy Photo | Pvt Darrell Dunkle, born and raised in Reno, was killed during World War I. The city...... read more read more
Darrell Dunkle, born and raised in Reno, left everything he knew when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917.
He left his undergraduate program and position on the University of Nevada football team. He left his parents. And he left his wife, Edith, whom he married Dec. 19, 1917 — five months before he entered the trenches in France during World War I.
Dunkle did not return; his life cut short at 21. He was one of more than 116,000 Americans killed in what is commonly referred to as the “Great War.”
A century after his death on July 18, 1918, Dunkle remains one of the most honored Reno citizens killed in World War I, with Darrell Dunkle Post 1 of the American Legion, 877 Ralston Street, named in his honor.
On Nov. 11, the city of Reno’s annual Veterans Day Parade will recognize the centennial of World War I, and Dunkle will be honored with a riderless horse leading the parade. Brig. Gen. Ondra Berry, Nevada Air National Guard commander, is set to serve as the parade’s grand marshal and the 152nd Airlift Wing, of Reno, is set to provide a C-130 flyover at 11:11 a.m. to start the parade.
“Time and again, Nevadans defended freedom when asked,” Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve said. “From the Civil War, to protecting us in cyberspace, our veterans are the standard for honor and patriotism. Darrell Dunkle defines those virtues and is an example for us all.”
The parade begins at the Virginia Street Bridge and travels north, toward the university Dunkle attended before leaving for war.
Dunkle enlisted on April 18, 1917, two weeks after the U.S. declared war on Germany. He swore in as a private at Fort McDowell, Calif., and served in Company A, 4th Engineers, 4th Division.
First assigned to the British front, the 4th Division moved near Meaux and Chateau-Thierry, initially as a reserve force. They quickly saw action.
On July 18, 1918, allied forces executed a counter-offensive against the Germans. The 4th Division was in position south of the Ourcq River with two French corps.
The allied forces near the Ourcq River faced “exceptionally heavy shell fire,” wrote Capt. C. E. Chase, Dunkle’s commanding officer.
In a letter to Dunkle’s father, D.W. Dunkle, who served as Washoe County’s treasurer, Chase wrote, “Corporal Coleman was hit in the leg by a piece of shrapnel and your son, who was near him, stopped to bandage and assist him. While doing this a shell burst very close, killing them both instantly. They were inseparable friends, slept together and chummed together.”
Before the explosion, Chase noted Dunkle saved the life of a U.S. Army lieutenant before moving to bandage the corporal.
Chase added: “Your son was courageous and a soldier of the finest type, and his devotion to duty at all times was marked, his congenial spirit and good nature was a constant good example to the other men of the company, all of whom were his friends. I assure you that he was a credit to the service and a great loss to his Country.”
Within two years after his death, American Legion Post 1 in Reno, was named after Dunkle. Today, his name can be read on a blue sign over the entrance to the brick American Legion post.
Shortly after the war, the state of Nevada published its “Golden Stars” book to remember Nevadans killed during the war. Dunkle’s two-page dedication ends with a passage from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
“O, not in cruelty, not in wrath, the reaper came that day; ‘Twas an angel visited the green earth and took the flowers away.”
| Date Taken: | 10.25.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 10.25.2018 17:15 |
| Story ID: | 297761 |
| Location: | RENO, NV, US |
| Web Views: | 99 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Reno Veterans Day parade, Nevada Air Guard to honor local WWI hero, by Capt. Emerson Marcus, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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