No products in the cart.
- Rank:
- Branch:
- Home Town:
- Date Of Birth:
- Disposition:
- Family DNA on File:
S2c Robert Beryle Grissinger
Robert Beryle Grissinger was born March 29, 1923 in Carroll County in northwest Illinois to Pauline Asam Grissinger, a homemaker, and Harry Grissinger, a rail mill worker for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad and the leader of a popular dance band.
By the time of the spring 1940 Census the parents had divorced and young Mr. Grissinger lived with his father, step-mother, and a brother in Savanna, a town of nearly 5,000 in northwest Carroll County near the Mississippi River and Iowa. He had completed one year of high school but was no longer enrolled. As a youth, he was a carrier for the Rockford Morning Star.
Mr. Grissinger enlisted in the Civilian Conservation Corps, a Depression-era federal jobs program, in July 1940.
He enlisted in the Navy on April 18, 1941, and was a seaman second class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.
Sources: the Thomson (Illinois) Review; The Daily Chronicle of DeKalb, Illinois; the Freeport (Illinois) Journal-Standard; the Morning Star of Rockford, Illinois; Census; Navy muster roll; U.S. Defense Department. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.
NOTE: If you are a family member related to this crew member of the U.S.S. Arizona, or have additional information, pictures or documents to share about his life or service to our county please contact us through our FAMILY MEMBER SUBMISSION FORM.