A lifetime of service: Don Krampe helps local veterans get what they deserve

By: JOHN HUNNEMAN - Staff Writer | Monday, July 2, 2007 11:37 PM PDT ∞

MURRIETA -- In a lifetime filled with helping others, Don Krampe is spending his golden years making sure those who served in the military are aware of the benefits they have earned for their service.

Twice each month, from 0800 to 1200, military time, on the second and fourth Wednesday, Krampe wears one of many hats -- this one belonging to the Riverside County Veterans Advisory Council -- and dispenses benefit information to Southwest County veterans at Murrieta's senior center.

"They were doing this before," Krampe said of the advisory council. "But they only came down as far south as Sun City. I knew there were a lot of veterans here who needed this information."

Born "a Midwest kid," he said, and inspired by listening to speeches by some of the larger-than-life men of the last century, including Babe Ruth and Will Rogers, Krampe has led a remarkable life and shows no signs of slowing.

He landed with the U.S. Marines at Inchon during the Korean War, met with presidents and danced with their daughters, hobnobbed in Hollywood and helped establish a nearly 50-year-old international organization that has provided leadership and critical-thinking skills to more than 350,000 young people around the globe.

"Don epitomizes the spirit of public service and community involvement we'd all like to see," said Murrieta City Councilman Rick Gibbs, himself a retired U.S. Air Force colonel. "He provides a valuable service to our veterans, many who don't know about the benefits they're entitled to."

Nine years ago, Krampe moved from Long Beach to The Colony, a gated senior community in Murrieta. The walls of his comfortable home by the community's golf course are covered with plaques and certificates, letters and photos, flags and memorabilia spanning a career of distinguished service.

He and his wife, Jean, have been married for 35 years. They have two children and two grandchildren.

Now 78, he has more stories to tell than most. When introduced to someone new, Krampe usually begins the conversation by asking that person about their objectives in life and how they plan to meet their goals.

And he ends each chat with the phrase, "Smile. It's good for your soul."

Like father, like brother

As a young man, Krampe joined the U.S. Marine Corps, as his father and his older brother -- famed actor Hugh O'Brian, who starred as Wyatt Earp in the top-rated ABC television show of the late 1950s -- had before him.

Krampe was attending the College of the Pacific in Stockton when his reserve unit was called up and sent to Korea where, he said, he "saw some action."

Part of that duty included helping to identify and remove the bodies of his fellow Marines after the Battle of Chosin Reservoir where 30,000 U.N. troops, mostly U.S. and British, went up against 60,000 Chinese soldiers.

After the war, Krampe got his college degree and began his long career serving others as the secretary of the Mount Diablo YMCA. It was while working there that his brother came to him looking for advice.

In the late 1950s, O'Brian, then a huge television star, read an article about the work Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Schweitzer was doing at the remote hospital he'd founded in 1913 on the banks of the Ogooue River in what is now the country of Gabon in western central Africa.

At Schweitzer's invitation, the actor traveled to visit the hospital.

"He worked with (Schweitzer) there and ended up changing bedpans for a couple of weeks," Krampe said.

While there, Schweitzer challenged O'Brian to use his notoriety to help teach young adults the leadership skills they would need to be successful. Puzzled as to how best to put Schweitzer's words into action, O'Brian came home and discussed the challenge with his brother.

"Hugh said he had everything he wanted in life," Krampe said of his brother. "But he felt like he should be doing more."

The two recalled as boys hearing the inspirational speeches given by Ruth and Rogers as well as Arctic explorer Admiral Richard Byrd, famed pilot Wiley Post and others at the Chicago Athletic Club.

The brothers decided to try and put young people into contact with successful leaders of the day. The plan was to bring high school sophomores together with businessmen, entrepreneurs, government leaders and educators and have the two groups interact.

The Hugh O'Brian Youth Foundation, known as HOBY, began in 1958 when a handful of boys were sent to Santa Catalina Island for several weeks to learn how to scuba dive and hear from well-known film director Cecil B. DeMille.

Nearly a half century later, more than 9,000 high school students -- boys and girls -- from all 50 states and 29 countries, annually participate in more than 70 HOBY leadership workshops and seminars run by volunteers, including Krampe and O'Brian, who donate their time and talent.

HOBY's motto is to teach students "how to think, not what to think."

Duty calls, again

In 1965, Krampe was called to service again. This time, the YMCA director was asked to go to Vietnam and run that organization's United Service Organization clubs for the growing number of U.S. servicemen who were being sent to Southeast Asia.

"As a young man, Don answered when his country called," Gibbs said. "Then, when he was a little older, he goes to Vietnam as a civilian to help support our troops. That was something he didn't have to do."

Krampe accepted the assignment with his usual enthusiasm and positive attitude.

"They saw I had some combat experience and knew I could handle the regimentation," Krampe said. "We coordinated the USO shows that came through. Plus we had pool tables, games, libraries, books and movies."

Before he left for Vietnam, at a White House dinner -- where he danced with both of President Lyndon Johnson's daughters, Krampe recalled with smile -- O'Brian introduced Krampe to the chief executive.

"This is my kid brother," O'Brian told Johnson. "And he's on his way to Vietnam."

Johnson replied that he had some news for O'Brian: "If your brother's going, you are too."

O'Brian did follow Krampe to Vietnam and put on the musical "Guys and Dolls" for the troops.

Krampe ran the YMCA Armed Services Department USO operations at Da Nang, Freedom Hill and Hue for several years.

"It was a home away from home for our soldiers," Krampe said. "I'm glad I had that experience."

Returning from Vietnam, Krampe ran the Hollywood YMCA before taking the position in 1969 of assistant to the regional director of the Veterans Administration of Greater Los Angeles.

Among his duties were being the primary spokesman for the organization in Southern California and working on programs to get jobs for veterans returning from the war.

Krampe retired in 1989 after serving as the San Francisco area director of savings bonds for the U.S. Treasury Department.

Because it's there

These days, Krampe is involved in many veterans organizations, both locally and nationally, and is often called on to serve as a motivational speaker.

He remains active in his adopted hometown, especially with issues involving veterans, and because of that and his distinguished record of service to others, in 2005 he was chosen to be the grand marshal of the Murrieta Veterans Day parade.

Krampe currently serves on a city committee that is planning a veterans memorial in Murrieta.

"It will be the most unique one of any city in the United States," he said.

Gibbs said Krampe brings a positive attitude and can-do spirt to the monument's planning.

"He's the one who argues most strongly for inclusiveness," Gibbs said. "He wants to make sure we don't forget anyone."

When he's not counseling veterans or doing volunteer work, Krampe plans to continue his education and pursue a doctorate.

"I'm looking into it now," he said. "I see things in life as a challenge. It's like climbing a mountain. You do it because it's there."

More information about the Hugh O'Brian Youth Foundation is available at www.hoby.org.

-- Contact staff writer John Hunneman at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2603, or hunneman@californian.com. 

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