When I read this article below, I remember meeting Grant Grundmeier at the last reunion the class of 1938 had which was held in Cliff's place - I forget the year right now - it
was before 2003 which is when Grant passed away.
They invited my mother, since my dad, Amos Kusel, was also in that class. Mother wanted me to come along to visit with those members who attended, and one of them was Grant.
This was the first time I ever met/spoke with Grant and one story I remember him telling me was about dad...
Both dad and Grant were on the football team but neither one
were on the basketball team.
Anyway, Grant told me that one day the guys had a pick-up basketball game at school. Now Grant was well over 6 feet tall as I recall and a pretty big guy,
and dad was around 5' 9" or so and not a very big stature...as Grant was telling me this story - he said he was guarding dad and was going to show him how tough he was and
then Grant told this to me "your dad knocked me on my a%#, and after that I realized he was a lot tougher than he looked."
This is one of the many reasons why I always loved to work on Manning's history because I would hear stories about my family and people I knew...maybe not interesting
to you but I loved to hear stories about dad because he died when I had just turned 14, so I didn't get to ask him many questions, plus the last 5 years of his life he had
ups and downs with his Diabetes.
So here is the article that mentions Grant Grundmeier, which I'm also going to add to his military story in the Manning Veterans' book.
Even the Censor Approved Manning Clubwomen's Idea
An Army Censor doesn't mind much - not even a good idea that crops up among the
letters which pass through his hands. That fact will be attested by the Wa-Tan-Ye Club of Manning which has a note from him to prove it.
It all happened like this. In an effort to be of service to Manning's soldiers
and sailors the Wa-Tan-Ye Club sent out, some 160 letters
to servicemen offering for the sum of one dollar each to make up and send a
Mothers' Day corsage to the soldier's mother. The corsage was to consist of defense stamps and a pink carnation.
Numerous replies were received, one of them being a letter from Grant
Grundmeier with three postscripts attached. In his letter Grundmeier said he'd
like to have a corsage sent not only to his mother but also to his wife's
mother. Then he added a postscript. "One of my buddies read this letter
and wants a corsage sent to his mother."
Then another postscript with the same request.
And then this last postscript: "This is the censor. I think this is a
wonderful idea. Send one to my mother, too."
The club has been active in war work including the school war drive and the
making of boutonnieres for service fathers.
Carroll Daily Times Herald Carroll, Iowa May 11, 1943
Grant Grundmeier
Lyle "Red" Arp, Grant "Sleepy" Grundmeier, Amos "Keezil" Kusel
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