Ira Christian “Chris” Rumburg was born on August 13, 1915, in Govan, Lincoln County, Washington. He was the son of Lewis Amos Rumburg and Lura Dean Killman Rumburg. He was the husband of Naomi Clark Krom. He was a graduate of West Valley High School and Washington State College (now Washington State University). He excelled in football and wrestling, served as student body president, and was cadet commander of the ROTC battalion. Commissioned in the Army Reserve upon graduation in 1938, he was called to active duty in 1941, later serving as an OSS Special Operations instructor before being assigned to the 66th Infantry Division in England.

On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1944, more than 2,000 soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 66th Infantry Division were crossing the English Channel aboard the Belgian troopship SS Leopoldville, traveling from Southampton to Cherbourg, France. Only a few miles from port, the ship was torpedoed by the German submarine U-486. The blast and swift flooding plunged the ship into chaos amid freezing darkness, while rescue efforts were hampered by poor communication, a shortage of lifeboats, and confusion within the harbor. As a result of the disaster, 763 American soldiers were killed, and 493 were never recovered. Some perished trapped below deck, others drowned in the icy waters of the Channel, and several courageous officers and enlisted men lost their lives while trying to save their fellow soldiers.

LTC Rumburg demonstrated extraordinary heroism after the ship was torpedoed, repeatedly aiding wounded soldiers, surrendering his own life jacket to another man, and helping save more than 100 lives before finally succumbing to exhaustion and the freezing waters; his body was never recovered. His name is memorialized in the Tablets of the Missing in the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Colleville-sur-Mer, Département du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.fold3.com, weremember.abmc.gov