{"id":1489,"date":"2026-10-31T17:27:54","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T17:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1489"},"modified":"2026-10-31T17:27:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T17:27:54","slug":"alvin-kunkel-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1489","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Alvin Kunkel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style>.family-topic-breadcrumb{font-size:.95rem;margin:0 0 22px}.family-topic-intro{max-width:68ch;line-height:1.7}.family-topic-menu{display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(2,minmax(0,1fr));gap:14px;margin:26px 0}.family-topic-menu a{display:block;padding:18px;border:1px solid #c9cec8;border-radius:4px;background:#f5f2e9;text-decoration:none;color:#293d30;min-height:52px}.family-topic-menu strong{display:block;font-size:1.1rem}.family-topic-menu span{display:block;margin-top:6px;color:#4f574e;line-height:1.55;font-size:.95rem}.family-topic-related{border-top:1px solid #d8d2c5;margin-top:32px;padding-top:18px}.family-topic-related a{display:inline-block;margin:6px 22px 6px 0}.family-topic-breadcrumb a:focus-visible,.family-topic-menu a:focus-visible,.family-topic-related a:focus-visible{outline:3px solid #98513b;outline-offset:4px}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb){max-width:960px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb)>p{line-height:1.7}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb) :is(h2,h3){scroll-margin-top:24px}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb) a{overflow-wrap:anywhere}@media(max-width:600px){.family-topic-menu{grid-template-columns:1fr}.family-topic-menu a{padding:16px}}<\/style>\n<nav class=\"family-topic-breadcrumb\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/\">Home<\/a> \u203a <a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=7\">Roling family<\/a> \u203a Remembering Alvin Kunkel<\/nav>\n<p class=\"family-topic-intro\">Bridget\u2019s cousin, his Navy service and the records behind the identification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"alvin-kunkel\">Remembering her cousin Alvin<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In her memoir, Bridget called Alvin Kunkel \u201cour first cousin\u201d and remembered that he was buried at sea. The 1940 census, the Navy\u2019s casualty list and earlier Kunkel family records strongly support identifying him as the son of Fidelus Kunkel, brother of Bridget\u2019s mother, Barbara. [A1] Original Navy muster records place Alvin Fidelus Kunkel aboard USS South Dakota; service number 3385018 links those records to his American Battle Monuments Commission entry. The ship\u2019s May 1945 report of changes records his burial at sea on May 6, 1945. ABMC separately records that date as his date of death. The records reviewed do not establish his individual cause of death. [A2\u2013A3]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Sources for Alvin\u2019s story<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[A1] Bridget Morrison Roling, family-held handwritten memoir, p. 23; 1940 U.S. census, Bee Branch Township, Chariton County, Missouri, ED 21-1, sheet 6B, household 123, lines 59\u201365; Navy, State Summary of War Casualties from World War II for Missouri (1946), p. 14; 1910 U.S. census, Bee Branch Township, ED 26, sheet 8A, dwelling 113, family 114; Fidelus Kunkel, Missouri death certificate, 1956.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ancestry.com\/imageviewer\/collections\/2442\/images\/m-t0627-02096-00017\">1940 original (Ancestry; account may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nara-media-001.s3.amazonaws.com\/arcmedia\/media\/images\/27\/22\/27-2122a.gif\">Navy casualty original<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/13thcensus1910po776unit\/page\/n18\/mode\/1up\">1910 original<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sos.mo.gov\/images\/archives\/deathcerts\/1956\/1956_00008428.PDF\">Fidelus death original<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[A2] USS South Dakota, muster roll for quarter ending June 30, 1944, p. 33; report of changes for period ending May 31, 1945, p. 6, corresponding row 4 in both tables. National Archives, RG 24, NAID 594996; digital images in Ancestry, collection 1143.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ancestry.com\/imageviewer\/collections\/1143\/images\/32862_252544-00042\">June 1944 original (Ancestry; account may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ancestry.com\/imageviewer\/collections\/1143\/images\/32862_252544-00511\">May 1945 original (Ancestry; account may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/weremember.abmc.gov\/\">[A3] American Battle Monuments Commission, Alvin F. Kunkel, record 174414, official downloaded metadata, retrieved October 13, 2026: service 3385018, death date May 6, 1945, missing status Buried At Sea, Honolulu Memorial, Court 3. Official burial search<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<nav class=\"family-topic-related\" aria-label=\"Related pages\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=7\">\u2190 Roling family<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1510\">Roling stories<\/a><\/nav>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home \u203a Roling family \u203a Remembering Alvin Kunkel Bridget\u2019s cousin, his Navy service and the records behind the identification. Remembering her cousin Alvin In her memoir, Bridget called Alvin Kunkel \u201cour first cousin\u201d and remembered that he was buried at sea. The 1940 census, the Navy\u2019s casualty list and earlier Kunkel family records strongly support [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1489","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1622,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1489\/revisions\/1622"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}