This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Don Gradin-Family
to remember
Gradin, William, T/5.
If you knew or served with this Soldier and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town Benedict
Last Address 416 E. Lincoln Box 172 Walcott, Iowa 52773
Date of Passing Sep 02, 1994
Location of Interment Memorial Park Cemetery - Davenport, Iowa
Verified participation as a member of the 101st on 17 September 2012 after receipt of Dad's complete service records. This was done with the help of the Davenport office of Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. A special thanks to Ms. Kay Rash for her dedication to completing the task that I was unable to carry out on my own.
D.E.G, Eldridge, Ia
Other Comments:
This information came from his DD-214, Personal Recollections, Information from Mike Ray, and the "Little Black Book" he carried.
Inducted Fort Snelling, Minnesota 24 August 1943
Assigned to the Paratroops somewhere in the south (unit??) where he broke the arches in feet during training exercises (rec'd a 10% disability for life) need info
Reassigned to a Replacement Co.(?), departed from Camp Miles Standish (?) 13 May 1944 need info
Landed in Northern Ireland 25 May 1944
Landed Isigny-sur-Mer, France 5 July 1944
42nd Repl. Btn., Trévières, France 14 July 1944
69th Repl. Btn., France 18July 1944
73rd Repl. Btn., Trévières, France 25 July 1944
14th Repl. Div., Trévières, France 10 August 1944
37th Repl. Btn., Le Mans, France 12 October 1944
19th Repl. Btn., Bastogne, Belgium 20 October 1944
1st Repl. Btn., Huy, Belgium 26 October 1944
69th Motor Pool, Chevron, Belgium 8 November 1944
235th Repl. Co., Malmedy, Belgium 20 November 1944
235th Repl. Co. attached 85th Btn.,Germany, 20 March 1945
19th Repl. Depot, 1 September 1945
Camp Wings, Le Havre, France 24 September 1945
Boarded Ship, Le Havre, France 29 September 1945
Landed US of A, Boston, Mass. 6 October 1945
Camp McCoy, Wisconsin 10 October 1945
Official Separation for the U.S. Army, 5 December 1945
Personal Notes: from his eldest son and administrator of this page:
I spent a lot of time with my dad driving semi. He was retired and I was still trying to find my way. He related a ton of material about his years during WWII. I could use help verifying any of this
*He originally joined (was not drafted) the Army to be a paratrooper. He was sent south (I can only assume Fort Campbell, KY) for his training. During his training he broke the arches in both feet (for which he rec'd a 10% disability for the length of his life). From his descriptions I fell it was a free-fall off of a tower. The reason I think it was Fort Campbell is that he related a story of driving his company commander ( Fike, Fife, ?) to Nashville, TN where the Captain wanted to see the Grand Ol' Opry.
*After recuperating he was sent to Camp Atterbury, IN and assigned to Co. D, 424th Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division, where he hooked up with Marion "Mike" Ray. Mike contacted my mom in about 1998 searching out my dad. I took the ball and ran with it maintaining an association until my job went "to hell" and I could no longer afford the time spent. Mike was one of those captured during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. He stayed in the Army and retired as a Lt. Colonel. Mike and others helped prepare dad to be a regular soldier by teaching him many of the things he missed during his time away. He was assigned to a Replacement Company sometime during this period and shipped out to Northern Ireland in preparation for the invasion of Europe. History shows that the 106th was a bottomless pit for replacements and comings and goings were quite common.
* He related several things about his experiences with Scotland, Northern Ireland and members of the opposite sex which I won't reveal.
* He landed in France 5 July 1944. He worked Graves Registration for some time. He had related that during this time he saw the burial of General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. who was the only man he ever saw buried in a proper casket during his entire overseas tenure.
* He was, at some point in time, assigned as a truck driver (due to his farming background and prior driving experience). He mentioned hauling out of the Port of Cherbourg, France. I am trying to catalog the names of the towns that he mentioned throughout France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. Sometime between his assignments of 10 August and 20 November 1944 he was assigned to the Red Ball Express. This is based on dates of the activation period from The Red Ball Express Wikipedia site.
* He arrived in Aachen the night the Burgomeister was murdered (abt 27 March 1945).
* He served with the Cadre in the provisional government in Bonn after the surrender.
* He served in both the 7th Army and the 1st Army (from the shoulder patches on a shirt) but I have no idea which and when.
* He often mentioned General Hodges.
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Normandy Campaign (1944)
From Month/Year
June / 1944
To Month/Year
July / 1944
Description Normandy Campaign 6 June to 24 July 1944) Early on D-Day airborne troops landed in France to gain control of strategic areas. Aerial and naval bombardment followed. Then the invasion fleet, covered by an umbrella of aircraft, discharged Eisenhower’s assault forces. Soon the beachhead was secure, but its expansion was a slow and difficult process in the face of strong opposition. It was not until late in July that the Allies were able to break out of Normandy.