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Ralph Lyndon Grindal

T/4 in 603rd Engineer Camouflage Bn : Co D, HQ Platoon

ASN#11043137 Casualty: Wounded

Born 1907 in ME, Died 1985

County of enlistment: Bangor, ME
Other residence(s): Bangor, ME; New York, NY; Annapolis, MD
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: unskilled sailors and deckhands, except U.S. Navy
Notes: Rank changed from CPL in GA Roster to T/4 per his gravestone; Purple Heart; GO #34, HQ SP TRS, 12th A Gp, 4 Apr 45. Enemy Action, 13 Mar 45. Pickard, Germany.
Source: 603rd Camouflage Engineer Roster provided by W. Anderson; Bernie Mason Company D Roster; signature on NAZI Banner at hmtcli.org

Ralph Grindal was born on May 31, 1907 in Bangor, ME. He was an only child; his father worked as a traveling salesman in the grocery industry. By 1920 Ralph and his family had moved in with his paternal grandparents. In 1926, probably shortly after graduating from high school, Ralph took a boat to Boston where he enrolled at the J.P. Quimby art school to study interior decorating and architecture. Either following that, or later in the 1930s, he also studied at Boston School of Decoration and the New York School of Design.

By 1930, the census listed Ralph's profession as "yachtsman," and he was found as a crew member on at least one sea voyage—serving as a lounge steward on the American steamship "Virginia" as it sailed from New York to San Francisco, via Cuba and the Canal Zone, and then back to New York. A 1936 Bangor city directory also described him as a "seaman." Other articles in the later 1930s show him living and working in New York, with several winters in South Carolina. In 1940-41 he was living in Annapolis, MD, and working for the Glenn Martin Company, an aviation designer/manufacturer, in Baltimore, MD.

Ralph enlisted in the Army on June 10, 1942, and his art education got him a place in the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion. He served in Europe with the unit, and received a Purple Heart after being wounded in Germany on March 13, 1945.

He was discharged from the Army on August 31, 1945 with the rank of T/4 and returned to Bangor where he would live the rest of his life. He married Dorothea Powers, a nurse, on July 25, 1953 and they became the parents of a son, Lyndon. Ralph worked at the Bangor Furniture Company for many years as a shipping clerk.

In his retirement years he wrote a number of letters to the editor of the Bangor Daily News, supporting such disparate causes as saving the Old Morse Bridge and setting up a dialysis center at the Maine Medical Center.

He died on July 6, 1985 in Bangor, and is buried at Mt. Hope Cemetery there.

Sources:

1907 birth record (name misspelled on document but has been edited in ink on original)

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1768920:1960?ssrc=pt&tid=4347032&pid=1437652759

1910 census

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/196416850:7884?ssrc=pt&tid=4347032&pid=1437652759

1920 census

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/106943843:6061?ssrc=pt&tid=4347032&pid=1437652759

1926 article in the Bangor Daily News (ME); he is studying in Boston

https://www.newspapers.com/image/664329622/?terms=ralph%20l%20grindal&match=1

1930 census

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/7806735:6224?tid=&pid=&queryId=a3135caf6bea9e63be5d5ef771f9b924&_phsrc=Ynh2&_phstart=successSource

1930 steamship passenger and crew list (he is a crew member)

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/2012137663:7488?ssrc=pt&tid=4347032&pid=1437652759

1930 steamship crew list (continuation of above voyage)

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/2012318129:7488?tid=&pid=&queryId=aae3bc2dbe0461731073f0db7cdb3eb1&_phsrc=Fjd4&_phstart=successSource

1935 article in the Bangor Daily News (ME); he has taken a job in NYC

https://www.newspapers.com/image/664806951/?terms=ralph%20l%20grindal&match=1

1936 Bangor ME city directory

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1457687129:2469?tid=&pid=&queryId=8cb270bc20f66dc9119fd7adf9d9e383&_phsrc=Boo16&_phstart=successSource

1939 article in the Bangor Daily News (ME) indicating he is living in NYC

https://www.newspapers.com/image/663921884/?terms=ralph%20l%20grindal&match=1

1939 article in the Bangor Daily News (ME); he is working in SC

https://www.newspapers.com/image/662373616/?terms=ralph%20l%20grindal&match=1

1941 article in the Bangor Daily News (ME); he is working in Baltimore, MD

https://www.newspapers.com/image/664280606/?terms=ralph%20l%20grindal&match=1

1942 enlistment record

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/5562590:8939?ssrc=pt&tid=4347032&pid=1437652759

1943 article in the Bangor Daily News (ME); he is stationed at Fort Meade with rank of CPL

https://www.newspapers.com/image/662751478/?terms=ralph%20l%20grindal&match=1

1945 article in the Bangor Daily News (ME); he has been discharged from 603rd with rank of SGT

https://www.newspapers.com/image/664259923/?terms=ralph%20l%20grindal&match=1

1949 Bangor ME city directory

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1457938153:2469?tid=&pid=&queryId=6262fcdffe2e9998960265b4a570ec50&_phsrc=Boo15&_phstart=successSource

1953 marriage record

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/415905:6904?tid=&pid=&queryId=8cb270bc20f66dc9119fd7adf9d9e383&_phsrc=Boo5&_phstart=successSource

1953 marriage announcement in the Bangor Daily News (ME)

https://www.newspapers.com/image/664613611/?article=96d26c69-e959-499e-9a8d-a3ac9dced95b&focus=0.014052735,0.42810205,0.14138472,0.6157625&xid=3398&_gl=1*g18qv7*_gcl_au*MTczMjE3ODg1Ni4xNjg5MDA3MzI4*_ga*ODAwMjAzNDMyLjE2ODkwMDczMzA.*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*MjE3YjlmMWItZDBmNy00NzE1LWE3ODEtNGEwNjk0NTYzNzkzLjYxLjEuMTY5MDc0NTcwOC4xMi4wLjA.&_ga=2.244928581.1539334702.1690743751-800203432.1689007330

1960 Bangor ME city directory

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1456244410:2469?tid=&pid=&queryId=8cb270bc20f66dc9119fd7adf9d9e383&_phsrc=Boo8&_phstart=successSource

1961 Letter to the Editor, Bangor Daily News (ME)

https://www.newspapers.com/image/665349328/?terms=ralph%20l%20grindal&match=1

1964 Bangor ME city directory

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1456497201:2469?tid=&pid=&queryId=8cb270bc20f66dc9119fd7adf9d9e383&_phsrc=Boo9&_phstart=successSource

1970 Letter to the Editor, Bangor Daily News (ME)

https://www.newspapers.com/image/665274519/?terms=ralph%20l%20grindal&match=1

1985 Social Security death index

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/24035864:3693?ssrc=pt&tid=4347032&pid=1437652759

1985 burial record

http://mthopebgr.com/interments/view/4ae8483e-b920-42bf-843d-5478f6650423/grindal-ralph-l/

1985 Find a Grave record

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/119564739/ralph-lyndon-grindal?_gl=1*1ai0j8n*_gcl_au*MTczMjE3ODg1Ni4xNjg5MDA3MzI4*_ga*ODAwMjAzNDMyLjE2ODkwMDczMzA.*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*MjE3YjlmMWItZDBmNy00NzE1LWE3ODEtNGEwNjk0NTYzNzkzLjYxLjEuMTY5MDc0NTAxNy41NC4wLjA.

1985 obituary in the Bangor Daily News (ME)

https://www.newspapers.com/image/663368019/?article=14d273e5-1270-46f8-a73e-cec184e6a29f&focus=0.15733907,0.26712397,0.26008028,0.44341823&xid=3355&_ga=2.42602597.1539334702.1690743751-800203432.1689007330

1985 VA death record

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/705062:2441?tid=&pid=&queryId=6262fcdffe2e9998960265b4a570ec50&_phsrc=Boo14&_phstart=successSource

1985 photo of gravestone

https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/10354745/person/212059976566/media/157263f1-618c-4dcd-a745-82a6180deffb?_phsrc=Fjd7&_phstart=successSource

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