Harry Anthony Sipple
Kentucky Post, Tuesday, 16 November 1948, page 1
SUCCUMBS-S/Sgt. Harry A Sipple, a veteran of two parachute jumps into enemy territory during World War II, was killed Nov 7 in Korea when a hand grenade he was carrying exploded while on a hunting trip, relatives here reported. His mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Sipple, 218 Eden avenue, Bellevue, has been notified by the army that the soldier died of chest wounds suffered when the grenade exploded as he took it from his pocket.
Enlisting in the 10th Infantry at Ft Thomas, Oct 4, 1939, when he was 15 years old, after his father, the late Harry Sipple, Newport patrolman, gave his consent. S/Sgt. Sipple became one of the youngest northern Kentucky youths to serve in the war. After serving several months in Iceland, he was transferred to the 82nd Airborne Division and became a paratrooper, seeing action during the war in England, France and Germany. He suffered leg wounds on two occasions when jumping into enemy territory.
Completing his third enlistment, S/Sgt. Sipple was assigned to a group instructing Korean soldiers in modern warfare in December. In the report of his death Maj. Gen. Edward F Witsell, adjutant general of the Army said:
"The official casualty report states that your son died on Nov 7, 1948, in Chunchon, Korea, as the result of multiple penetrating chest wounds, incurred when a hand grenade he possessed while on a hunting trip exploded. I know that added distress is caused by failure to receive more information and details. Unfortunately initial casualty reports are necessarily brief due to the limited facilities available for their transmission and the fact that all of the circumstances are not known at the time the initial report is rendered. The commanding officer will furnish the Department of the Army with a supplemental report at the earliest practicable date."
Besides his mother, he leaves a sister, Tonya Jean Sipple, who was seven years old the day her brother died. Arrangements are being completed for the return to the body to Bellevue.