Two dozen people gathered outside at the Salkum Cemetery in the midst of a pandemic in early April to mark the 100th birthday of a man who gave his life for his country during World War II.
Surviving siblings of 1st Lt. Arnold Francis Grose and about 20 motorcyclists gathered April 4 to place a memorial headstone for the WWII aviator near the graves of his parents, Alice and Frank Grose.
“I was only five years old when Arnold died,” recalled Audrey (Grose) Rhodes of Chehalis, one of Arnold’s seven siblings. “It was hard on my folks when he died — the oldest boy.”
Because of COVID-19, they kept the gathering small, with only Rhodes and her older brother, Cyril Grose of Morton, and a niece and caregiver marking Arnold’s birthday at the cemetery. They’re hoping more family members can visit the memorial in late July during the annual Grose family reunion at Riffe Lake.
“I’m more than proud of him,” Rhodes said. “I’m glad we could do something for him.”
Arnold, who was born April 4,1920, and moved west with his family during the Great Depression, was working as a logger in Morton in 1941 when he joined the Army Air Corps, where he was assigned to the 365th Bomb Squadron in England. But in June 1943, during a daylight raid over Germany, his B-17, “Boom Town,” took flak in the wing, caught fire, and an engine exploded, shifting the plane into a flat spin. Five men bailed out, and four survived, but Grose, the copilot, and four others died near Valburg, Holland, where the Flying Fortress crashed in a farmer’s field.
Arnold, 23, was buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery near the small village of Margraten, Holland, where for 75 years generations of Dutch families have volunteered to maintain the graves of 8,300 Americans killed during World War II. They are buried on 65 acres just a few miles from the German border.
The person who adopted Arnold’s grave in Plot I, Row 21, Grave 13 is Eugene van Zinnicq Bergman of Brunssum, a half hour from Margraten. The website for the Foundation for Adopting Graves at the American Cemetery in Margraten constructed in October 1944 is www.adoptiegraven-margraten.nl.
We can honor veterans in the United States through the Wreaths Across America program (https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/), where for $15 we can have a wreath placed on the grave of a soldier on National Wreaths Across America Day Dec. 19, 2020. Wreaths are placed at Arlington National Cemetery and 1,600 military cemeteries across the United States, including the Vancouver Barracks and the North Olympic Peninsula cemetery in Sequim. The goal is to remember, honor, and educate.
Or we can join the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis, which honors the military service of all veterans, living and dead.
EDC Smart Tank
During the coronavirus pandemic, more people have learned to meet virtually through online programs like Zoom and Google Classroom.
On June 26, I joined the Lewis County Economic Development Council’s Smart Tank for an hour of learning about “Visual Techniques to Grow & Scale Your Business,” taught by Angie Moline of Moline Creative in Arizona. It provided interesting information despite a few technical glitches with showing slides over Zoom.
This is the EDC’s third year of offering Smart Tank, a series of four educational workshops to help students, small-business owners and prospective entrepreneurs learn and flourish. It is presented in partnership with Centralia College.
“Smart Tank has really been different this year,” said Matt Matayoshi, the EDC’s executive director. “Without being able to meet in person, it has really slowed our momentum.”
While 14 people attended the in-person workshop in February, only a few were online in June.
As with businesses, Matayoshi said the coronavirus pandemic has altered the way the EDC operates.
“At this point we are working to get hand sanitizer and other supplies to companies that have a need,” he said. “We are working with Lewis County Together and the Coal Transition Board to do this.”
The EDC is still working with companies interested in locating businesses in our region.
“We are planning for additional infrastructure to serve the Winlock industrial park,” he said. “Most of our industrial buildings in the community are full.
“There is uncertainty ahead of us, and we will adjust and be effective as possible.”
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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at chaptersoflife1999@gmail.com.
