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Ralph Emerson Dunham was born 29 August 1917 in Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas, United States to Ralph Waldo Emerson Dunham (1894-1970) and Ruth Lucille Armour (1900-1926) and died 17 December 2012 Fairfax County, Virginia, United States of unspecified causes.

"Ralph was called up after Stanley enlisted. He landed at Normandy’s Omaha Easy Red beach on D-Day plus four, then worked his way through France, Italy and Germany as an assignment and personnel officer.


In the months before the invasion, the brothers met up twice in England while on leave. Once, they came across each other by happenstance in London, where Ralph was staying at the Russell Hotel.


“I walked down the steps and there was my brother sitting on a settee,” 92-year-old Ralph Dunham said in interview.


It turned out that Stanley’s hotel had run out of rations and he was sent to the Russell in search of food. The two Kansas boys — each 6-foot-2, by Ralph’s recollection — spent the rest of their leave together, touring the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace and other sites with a helpful taxi driver. At night, they sampled the London theater offerings. Ralph remembers they saw “Hamlet.”


The brothers had a double portrait snapped to send home — after Stanley borrowed a jacket from a fellow member of the 9th Air Force so they’d both be in uniform. The February 1944 portrait is one that Ralph still treasures.


...Ralph Dunham is reminded of his brother every time Obama’s face appears on TV or in the paper.

“You know,” Ralph says, “he looks exactly like Stanley. He looks exactly like my brother, only he’s dark.” (Source:Army Times)

Residences

Footnotes (including sources)

‡ General
  • Ralph was alive as of Jun 6, 2009 according to Army Times article who listed his age as 92. This does not square with the familysearch reported birth date of July 20, nor his death date as 1985.
However, SSDI reports:
Ralph DUNHAM Birth: 20 Jul 1917 State Where Number was Issued: California Death: Mar 1985



Phlox

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