Theodore G. Grier Jr.
Ensign, U.S. Navy
Patrol Bomber Squadron VPB-116
Oaklyn, New Jersey
Died: June 29, 1945
Over Japan
Buried: Plot 82 O 74
Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery
2900 Sheridan Road
St. Louis, Missouri
Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal
Introduction
Ensign Theodore George Grier Jr.
Ensign Theodore George Grier Jr. grew up at 517 Newton Avenue in Oaklyn, New Jersey. He attended grade school in Oaklyn, and was a 1938 graduate of Collingswood High School. He attended Drexel Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and worked in the drafting room at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey. Before entering the Navy, he had also qualified as a civilian pilot.
In February of 1943 he entered the Navy Air Corps. He initially trained at Prescott, Arizona. He received his pre-flight training at Pasco, Washington, and his advanced training at Corpus Christi, Texas. He later served at Kansas City, Kansas, Banana River, Florida, and San Diego, California. On April 12, 1944, he married Elizabeth Jean Clugston of Philadelphia.
Ensign Grier shipped out for the Pacific Theater in April of 1945. He earned the Air Medal for flying patrol bomber missions over Hamamatsu, Japan, on May 10th and May 18th, 1945. Serving as a navigator, he was killed in action when his PB4Y-1 Liberator was lost on a mission to Tokyo over Honshu on June 29, 1945. He was first reported missing in action on July 4, 1945. His body and the remains of two other crewmembers were returned to the United States in August of 1949, and they were interred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery on September 1, 1949.
He was survived by his wife; an older sister, Estella Grier; and a brother, Robert, who served in the Army Air Force as a fighter pilot.
Photos
Theodore G. Grier Jr. — Collingswood High School yearbook photo; in flight gear
About the Loss of Ensign Grier's Aircraft
The following accounts of the loss of VPB-116 Mission 29 are from vpnavy.com:
29 JUN 45 A/C: PB4Y-1 LOCATION: Empire Patrol based out of Iwo Jima TYPE: Ditch in ocean STRIKE: Yes DEATHS: xx BUNO: 90482 CAUSE: Unknown. Contributed by James C. Sawruk via George B. Winter [20JAN98]
…My brother (S. L. Vaughan, Jr.) was lost on VP-116’s Mission 29, June 29, 1945. They were based out of Iwo Jima. His crew consisted of Gerberding (Pilot), Chicirda, Gallagher, Goereing, Grier, Levitt, Middleton, Mitchell, Odelberg, Pierson, Simon and Zutter. The Japs recovered 3 remains of the crew. They are buried in the St. Louis National Cemetery. Thanks for keeping the memory of these gallant men alive…” —Robert Vaughan [26NOV2000]
“…I took a quick look at my PB4Y losses for WW II and can confirm that BUAERNO. 90482 was a PB4Y-1 assigned to VPB-116. It was lost on 29 June 1945 while on an Empire Patrol based out of Iwo Jima. The crew was listed as missing with a LCDR. J. Gerberding as PPC…” Contributed by James C. Sawruk via George B. Winter [20JAN98]
Ensign T. G. Grier Jr. Burial Thursday
Camden Courier-Post —
Military services will be held at Jefferson Barracks National cemetery, St. Louis, at 1 p.m. Thursday for Ens. Theodore G. Grier Jr., 22, USNR, killed in action in the South Pacific in June, 1945.
Mr. and Mrs. Grier, of 517 Newton avenue, Oaklyn, parents of the navy hero, left for St. Louis to attend the burial of their son, who first was reported missing in action July 4, 1945.
Ensign Grier was a navigator aboard a plane shot down in Japan. Before his enlistment in February, 1943, he was employed in the New York Shipyard. He was graduated from Collingswood High School in the class of 1939 and attended Drexel.