PVT Robert Clyde Gump (WWII)

Remembering PVT Robert Clyde Gump (Fairmont)

February 26, 1926 - December 10, 1945

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Note: This will updated when I receive his Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF).

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PVT Robert Clyde Gump (Service Number 13042582) was born in Fairmont, WV on February 26, 1926, the son of Edward and Ruby (Daniels) Gump. 

Unfortunately, Ruby died of "acute nephritis" (WV Death Certificate) on January 27, 1928 at age 38, just three days after the birth of Robert's younger brother, William (The Waynesburg Republican) and two weeks after the death of her mother-in-law. She left behind five sons- John (12), Corbly (10), Edward Jr. (9), Robert (1), and William (3 days old).

The 1930 Census found their family living at 517 Maryland Avenue in Fairmont, while Edward worked as a brush salesman. 

That was short lived, however, and by 1940, thirteen-year-old Robert was a ward of the state, living at the Kappa Sigma Pi Camp in the Laurel Park area of Harrison County.  Robert attended Washington Irving High School before dropping out to enlist in the Army. Meanwhile, Robert's two older brothers, Corbly and Edward, Jr., remained with their father. William was adopted by the Varner family.

Military Service:

On October 31, 1941, Robert Gump enlisted in the U.S. Army in Washington, D.C. He would have been 15 (Army Enlistment Records). Robert was a member of the 91st Infantry, 275th Replacement Company, 4th Replacement Department, 140th Training Battalion (Headstone Application Form).

Wedding bells rang on February 22, 1944, when Robert, now 17, married Blanche Mae Smith just four days before his 18th birthday. On November 23, 1944, Robert and Blanche welcomed their only child together- Robert Clyde Gump, Jr.

Disaster struck on January 3, 1945, when Robert's older brother Corbly was killed in action in Germany.  In the months that followed, Robert served with the infantry in the Philippines, Okinawa, and Japan ("Death of Local Soldier in Japan Is Being Probed," The Fairmont Times). On December 10, 1945, Robert was stabbed to death in Japan. Blanche received a letter from Major General Edward F. Witsell, Adjutant General, which said the following:

"The report received in the War department show only that your husband died December 10, 1945, as a result of a stab wound and that his body was found at Fujiwawa, 13 miles southwest of Yokohama." It went on to promise that his death was being investigated ("Death of Local Soldier"). He was considered AWOL (for less than 24 hours) at the time of his death (IDPF). An accident report in Robert's Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) reported that Robert's body was discovered in a rice paddy by Japanese civilian Kamazo Ozawa with no identification or personal effects.

Survivors and Legacy:

Initially laid to rest in Yokohama, Japan as an unknown service member, Robert was identified by his fingerprints in 1946. PVT Robert Clyde Gump was interred at the Beverly Hills Cemetery in Westover, WV on December 30, 1948 (Death Register).

Robert was survived by his beloved wife, Blanche, and their young son. He was also survived by his brothers John, Edward, and William. He was proceeded in death by his mother, Ruby, and two brothers- Jennings and Corbly. In addition to Corbly, Robert's brother John also served in WWII. Their youngest brother, PFC William Gump Varner, was drowned during flooding while serving in Korea in 1947 ("PFC William Varner," The Waynesburg Republican). 

PVT Robert Clyde Gump is honored at the West Virginia Veterans Memorial in Charleston, WV.

Blanche remarried in 1949, but outlived both of her husbands, as well as her son Robert Clyde Gump, who died in 1974 around age 30. Blanch Mae (Smith) Gump VanPelt died March 28, 2008, and is buried in Randolph County, WV, alongside her second husband, Clifford Mack VanPelt, who died in 1971.

Sources and More Information:

  • US Army Enlistment Records: Robert Gump (Accessed through Ancestry)
  • US Census Records: 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950 (Accessed through Ancestry)
  • US Headstone Applications: Robert C. Gump (Accessed through Ancestry)
  • US Hospital Admission Card Files: Robert Gump (Accessed through Ancestry)
  • West Virginia Memory Project: PVT Robert Clyde Gump
  • West Virginia Death Register: Robert C. Gump
  • West Virginia Marriage License: Robert Gump and Blanche Mae Smith
Newspaper Articles:
  • "Mrs. Edward M. Gump." The Waynesburg Republican. 2 February 1928.
  • "Missing Soldier Killed in Action." The Waynesburg Republican. 3 May 1945. (about Robert's brother, Corbly)
  • "Death of Local Soldier in Japan Is Being Probed." The Fairmont Times. 20 May 1946. Accessed with help from the West Virginia and Regional History Center at WVU.
  • "Stabbed to Death." The Fairmont Times. 1 June 1946. Accessed with help from the West Virginia and Regional History Center at WVU. (Source of this photo)
  • "PFC William Varner," The Waynesburg Republican. 11 September 1947.



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