Rupert Stanley Trimmingham (August 17, 1899 – May 9, 1985) was a corporal in the United States Army Corps of Engineers during World War II who is noted for writing a letter that was published in Yank, the Army Weekly that attracted wide attention to the plight of black American soldiers in World War II.

It was an early step in the process that, along with other publicized outrages involving black American soldiers, eventually resulted in President Harry S. Truman issuing Executive Order 9981, which desegregated the United States armed forces.

Beginning within months of publication, the letter has been an inspiration for literature and the performing arts highlighting racial inequality.

After his discharge in 1946 he lived in Gary, Indiana, working for the Singer Sewing Machine Company as an electrician.

They entered the lunchroom, sat at the tables, had their meals served, talked, smoked, in fact had quite a swell time.

The editors reported that Yank had received "a great number of comments from GIs, almost all of whom were outraged by the treatment given the corporal.

They are all proud of the fact that they are of the South but ashamed to learn that there are so many of their own people who by their actions and manner toward the Negro are playing Hitler's game.

[7] Also in 1945, radio writer Ruth Moore wrote a one-act play incorporating elements from Trimminghim's account and McLaughlin's story, "Short Wait between Trains,", for the Chicago branch of the Stage for Action, a social activist theater organization of the 1940s and early 1950s.

[8] The play was restaged in Chicago in March 1957 by the Universal Actors troupe as part of the United Nations' International Theatre Month.

[9] A 25-minute film, A Short Wait between Trains, produced by Cherryl S. Espinoza and directed by Rick Wilkinson, premiered on Showtime on 15 February 1999 as an episode of the Black Filmmakers Showcase.

[10] The PBS history series American Experience featured Courtney B. Vance reading Cpl.