Philippine Scouts Heritage Society - Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S

snake284

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Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S
Sep 08^th, 2008, 4:35pm

Does anyone here remember my uncle, Rudyard K. "Rudy" Grimes of Abilene, Texas? He was a 1939 graduate of West Point. He and my aunt, Azile, went to the Philippines in 1939 and she came back on one of the last civilian boats out in 1941. She never saw him again. We are not sure, but think he may have survived the death march and Camp O'Donnel and may have died in Oct. 42 in Cabanatuan from diptheria. She was at a military memorial in San Antonio back in the late forties with Gen. Wainwright who presented his family with the DSC Postumously awarded him for action on Bataan. The theory of his surviving through to Cabanatuan in late 1942 is based on what one of the survivors, a Col. Brinkmeyer told my dad back in the 50s. He said he knew him and he died of diptheria in an epidimic in Oct. 1942. Anyway, if anyone knows anything about him can you post on here or send me an email at <snake284@hotmail.com>. My aunt who is 90 would be very grateful for any info on when and how he died.

Sincerely,
Mike

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ord510

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Re: Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S
Reply #1 - Sep 8^th, 2008, 11:27pm

Mike,

I took a "crack" at seeing what I could find in Government records and Col Olson has him in M Company, 57th Inf Reg (PS) and he was a Captain. This information comes from WW II Prisoners of War Record. Latest Report Date is Oct 16, 1942 and states he died as a POW. POW Camp #1 - Cabanatuan, Luzon, PI.

I have some books by the POWs and sometimes they mention other POWs in them. I am in the process of unpacking after moving from Arizona. It might be some time but we will get back to you.

Regards,

Tom McGeeney

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snake284

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Re: Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S
Reply #2 - Sep 9^th, 2008, 9:51am

Thank you very much Tom. You don't know how you just made a 90 year old lady feel. I just read your reply and called her and told her what you had found. What you said here confirms what my dad had found in a local beer joint gas station in Seadrift Texas some 50 years back. Seadrift is a sleepy fishing town here in Calhoun County which had a few old retired veterans living there in proximity to Matagorda AFB. My dad was mayor there back in the 50s and after council meetings a few of the city fathers would meet at Skinny's for a couple of drinks and to discuss the meeting. My dad met this Col. Brinkmeyer there and discovered he had been on Bataan. He told my dad he knew Rudyard and he told him this same story. But you know beerjoint talk, so my aunt never took it seriously. You just cleared up a 66 year old mystery. I had asked Col. Olson about this, but he is getting quite old and couldn't remember all the details. If you find anything else, I'd appreciate it if you'd email me at <snake284@hotmail.com> Again, thanks very much.

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ord510

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Re: Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S
Reply #3 - Feb 19^th, 2009, 1:49pm

Mike,

We are still unpacking, weather is so cold here even with the sun out. I put off going to the storage until June. We want to move out of the expensive storage and put it in an inexpensive one, where my wife'sister lives. I mention this so you know we will be with my books (and I am moving them to where I live). Since it has been awhile, I had to reply to you and give you our "Game Plan" as they say.

Hope all is well with you.

Regards,

Tom

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Tom

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Chris_Schaefer YaBB Administrator Offline Posts: 54 Texas	Re: Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S Reply #4 - Feb 19^th, 2009, 3:48pm Is your mother Marie Grimes? Marie Grimes returned from the Philippines in the general evacuation of dependents in May 1941, and throughout the war she and "Hat" Diller published a newsletter for dependent families of Bataan/Corregidor soldiers called "Philippine Postscripts."
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ord510

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Re: Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S
Reply #5 - Feb 19^th, 2009, 9:31pm

Chris,

I hit paydirt. Marie Grimes is the wife of Lt Col Arthur J. Grimes. half brother, I believe, of Rudyard Kipling Grimes and also a West Point Graduate. Lt Col Grimes was also in the Philippines and is given a death date of 15 Apr 1942, his unit 57th Inf Reg (PS). Her partner in this endeavor was Mrs. LaGrand A. Diller, wife of the former aide to Gen MacArthur.

Regards,

Tom McGeeney

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Tom

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snake284

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Re: Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S
Reply #6 - Feb 23^rd, 2009, 8:01pm

Tom, no Marie is not kin to us that we know of. Col Olson says there was another Grimes, a Lt. Col. that was executed down in the Visayas. I don't believe they were related. Rudyard's wife, my aunt, was Azile Coffey Grimes, my mother's sister. Azile left the Philippines in October, 1941. She was one of the last spouses o leave. She is still alive and lives with my mother. She is 91 years old.

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ord510

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Re: Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S
Reply #7 - Feb 23^rd, 2009, 11:21pm

Mike,

Thanks for the reply. I have a Lt Col Arthur J. Grimes who was Marie's husband and started Philippine Postcript, a newspaper about the happenings in the Philippines after she returned to the US with all the Dependents in 1941. I understand that it started publishisng around 1943 and had their 1st anniversary when that article about it came out in 1944.

Somewhere along "this trail of events" Lt Col Grimes became the half brother of Rudyard Kipling Grimes. I read it somewhere. As far as you know there is no relation? So we will treat them as no relatives with the same last name. Thank you for clearing this matter.

I have Lt Col Grimes as coming from Illinois, and some government record had Rudyard Kipling Grimes also from Illiinois but I know from my conversation with you he is Abilene, Texas. Must have been my old eyesight reading what wasn't there at all.

Regards,

Tom

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Tom

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ord510

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Re: Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S
Reply #8 - Feb 24^th, 2009, 3:36pm

Mike,

Did some reading of Newspaper articles and they list Rudyard Kipling Grimes and his family of relatives. No Arthur J. Grimes listed. While Arthur was in the 57th and went to West Point and Rudyard Kipling Grimes was in the 57th and went to West Point, they weren't related.

A wedding article with a nice photo of Azile, his bride, lists the wedding party and the best man is his half brother, also a West Point graduate, by the name of Lt Oscar Senter of Maxwell Field, Alabama.

I haven't found that article that names Arthur Grimes as the Half Brother. but I can see how an assumption was made. Knowing Rucyard had a half brother, a fellow Army officer, someone grabbed Arthur J Grimes as the half brother. Now to just find the article that states it.

Regards,

Tom

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Tom

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Dr. Charlie Marler

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Re: Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S
Reply #9 - Dec 30^th, 2009, 3:37pm

From: Dr. Charles H. Marler, Ph.D. University of Missouri School of Journalism

I did my master's thesis (at Abilene Christian University) and my dissertation (U. of Missouri) on Frank Grimes, father of Capt. Rudyard Kipling Grimes. Grimes was editor of the Abilene Reporter-News and runnerup in the 1951 Pulitizer Prize editorial writing contest. Quoting from my dissertation (page 379): "Twice, particularly, the pain and agony of the unknown fate, then the death, of Rudyard flooded the editor's mind. General Jonathan Wainwright posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross to Rudyard on January 18, 1947, at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio. Wainwright, who had endured four years of Japanese imprisonment, and Grimes each neared tears and trembled from the memories as a colonel read the citation for Rudyard's leadership under machinegun and mortar fire. Then the medal was pinned to the suit of the editor who fought unpreparedness [in his editorials]. Captain Grimes' body was returned to Abilene on March 24, 1949, for final burial at Elmwood Memorial Park [in Abilene]. J.S. Billups, a West Point classmate of Rudyard and a lieutenant colonel at Fourth Army Headquarters, was the special escort." Rudyard's step-brother, Lt. Gen. Oscar Senter, also went to West Point, died in 2009 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Grimes married Oscar's mother after her husband was killed in a horse accident. Frank Grimes' papers are deposited in the Special Collections of the Abilene Christian University Library. If I can be of further help, let me know.

CHM

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snake284

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Re: Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S
Reply #10 - Dec 31^st, 2009, 9:08am

Dr. Marler,

My name is Mike Walker and I am the nephew of Captain Rudyard Grimes' Widow, Azile. She is my mother's older and only sister. Azile is still with us at age 92. She lives in an assisted living home here in Port Lavaca, Calhoun County, Texas.

My dad had told me about Rudyard's brother, Oscar Senter and that he was with the U.S. Weather Burea during the war. We were unaware that he had passed away just this year. Since he was older than Rudyard we figured he had died before now.

I am the only relative on Azile's side of the family, other than Azile, who has been to Bataan and road the Death March trail all the way from Mariveles to San Fernando. Actually, I don't know if Azile has ever been down to Mariveles as she lived near the Fort in Manila with Rudyard before the war broke out, having left on the last civilian ship out in October, 1941. I have an advantage that my wife is Filipino and we go back to the Philippines every few years.

I really thank you and Tom McGeeney for all the information you have given us. This answers a few more questions and helps fill in more of the pieces to the puzzle.

Thanks so much again,
Norman Michael, "Mike" Walker

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« Last Edit: Jan 1^st, 2010, 8:53pm by snake284 »

in the words of Charlton Heston, "...when they pry it from my cold dead hands!"

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snake284

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Re: Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S
Reply #11 - Jan 1^st, 2010, 8:50pm

Dr Marler,

I printed the text you wrote here and took it to my aunt Azile at the home. She seemed very interested in talking with you on the phone. She lost most of her sight due to an eye disease so she doesn't do email anymore. Check your PMs here for all of her contact information.

Also, In some of my PMs I may have referred to Rudyard's dad Frank as Arthur. Please excuse this mistake and know I was referring to Frank Grimes, Rudyard's dad.

Mike Walker

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in the words of Charlton Heston, "...when they pry it from my cold dead hands!"

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ord510 Full Member Offline Posts: 163 AZ	Re: Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S Reply #12 - Jan 2^nd, 2010, 8:31pm Mike, Thanks very much for your nice comments. I am glad everything is working out for your family. And I am glad I was able to assist you. I haven't come across any mention of Rudyard in my books but if I do I will get in touch. Regards, Tom
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victor YaBB Administrator Offline Posts: 94 PA	Re: Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S Reply #13 - Feb 6^th, 2010, 10:38pm He would be the tall officer in the top row "between" the two flags. A few spots to the left of Col. Olson (then Capt). Click the thumbnails to zoom.
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Raleigh

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Re: Rudyard Kipling Grimes, 57th Infantry Philippine S
Reply #14 - Jun 13^th, 2010, 1:29pm

I don't know if this helps much, but my grandfather mentions CPT Rudyard Grimes as commanding the 3rd BN (57th IN REG) heavy weapons company in an exerpt of a report by D Company 3rd BN commader, CPT Wermuth, describing an action, and then mentions his passing at Cabanatuan, but with no date. Here is the link to the Combined Arms Research Library transcription that includes these references:
http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/resources/archival/lilly/notebook19.asp
Do a search or find for "grimes" and you will see the references.

Sincerely,
Raleigh

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