Roland Gruebling

ASN:36289689

Roland John Gruebling registered for the draft on October 16, 1940. Born May 16, 1918, he was from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and was employed by Gridley Dairy Company.

Inducted into the US Army on December 14, 1942, this twenty-two-year-old was 5-11, 152 pounds with a light complexion, green eyes, and brown hair and had an appendix scar listed as an identifying mark.

PVT Gruebling became a member of the 319th Field Artillery, A-Battery of the 82nd Airborne Division, and trained at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.

He traveled with the battalion to North Africa arriving in Casablanca May 10, 1943.

Company Morning Reports

Company Morning Reports (see below) were produced every morning in Army units relating to personnel matters. The following events for Roland Gruebling were reported:

• October 9, 1943, from duty to absent sick. Station: Naples, Italy.

• November 15, 1943, from absent sick hospital to duty 1000. Station: Naples, Italy.

• January 21, 1944, from duty to sick quarters. Station: Camp Ballyscullion, Northern Ireland.

• From sick quarters to duty at 1000, January 24, 1944.

• July 11, 1944, appointed Tech 5 from PFC.

• July 25, 1944, from duty to furlough 5 days Manchester, England at 0600. Station: Papillon Hall.

• July 30, 1944, from furlough 5 days Manchester, England to duty 2300.

• From duty to Absent Sick (non-battle casualty) MOS 056, February, 11, 1945.

• March 16, 1945, from Absent Sick hospital unknown (non-battle casualty) to duty, 1600.

• August 1, 1945, Tec 5 Roland Gruebling appointed to Corporal.

Roland Gruebling fought in the major campaigns of Naples-Foggia, Normandy, Holland, Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe. He glided into Normandy on D-Day and into Groesbeek, Netherlands for Operation Holland.

On December 18, 1944, he departed Camp Suippes, France with the 319th and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Later, the 319th spearheaded the 82nd Airborne’s final drive into Germany across the Rhine and Elbe Rivers, resulting in the surrender of the German 21st Army.

During the surrender then CPL Gruebling was present and recalled enemy (Hungarian) soldiers stacking their arms and proceeding to the rear area where he was posted. Reportedly, a mounted Colonel rode up to him, Gruebling relieved the officer of his sword and pistol, mounted his horse, (see photo inset) and escorted him the the 319th command post. The Colonel presented himself to Captain Sartain and requested permission to bivouac his men and horses in an adjacent pine forest. His horses were, he said in very broken English, “Kaput.”

The US Army used the Adjusted Service Rating Score (ASR) at the end of the war to determine when soldiers were eligible for discharge. By August 1945, Tec 5 SGT Gruebling was now stationed in Berlin, Germany for occupational duty with other 319th soldiers having an ASR score of less than 85. They were housed in what had formerly been a Nazi SS barracks.

While stationed in Berlin Roland Gruebling remembered being posted as a sentry on the American end of a bridge which spanned a canal dividing the two sectors. Confrontations with Russian soldiers (see photo below) often occurred resulting in off the record shootings.

Roland Gruebling started a fad for canteen etching. Using some sharp tool, Gruebling decorated his soft aluminum mess kit with his name and army serial number, then started listing the names of each foreign country he’d been in. (see photos below)

As the summer passed into autumn, more and more of the 319th soldiers in Berlin had enough points to be discharged. The first group left on October 29th from Le Harve, France, aboard the SS William A. Graham. Among others, it included Roland Gruebling, John Girardin, and Robert Rappi. These men were processed at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, (see photo inset John Girardin standing left and Roland Gruebling) then discharged in late November 1945.

His service was awarded with the Good Conduct Medal, Distinguished Merit Badge with Oak Leaf Cluster, European/African Middle Eastern Service Medal with six bronze service stars and one bronze service arrowhead.

Gruebling was the designated postman for A-Battery when the 319th was in established camps. He took the job seriously and managed to have the collapsible canopy to a jeep emblazoned with the words, “Mail Call!” The Job would have ensured his renown on its own, but accompanied as it was by his signature call, “Hey, hey, hey! We’ve got mail today! “ his popularity was cinched. (see “Mail Call” jeep below)

Roland Gruebling certainly one of the most popular and photographed soldiers (see series of photos below) in A-Battery, “the Grieb,” or “Rolly” as he was commonly known among his buddies. Gruebling had a cheerful, easy-going disposition, which made him good company when the going wasn’t easy. He was fond of gags and practical jokes.

He also appeared in the A-Battery group photo taken June 20, 1945 in Epinal, France.

During the post-war years Roland Gruebling stayed in touch with his 319th brothers and was active in the 82nd Airborne Association. Roland attended the first 319th reunion in July 1967, the event was hosted by the Sherman Hotel, Chicago, Illinois.

In the group photo below he is standing second row from the top, and 5th man from the right. Hard to believe just 24 years prior to this photo, these 319th men now proudly posing with their wives, were fighting for the lives in the D-Day Normandy invasion.

Roland Gruebling and Sal Covais, both A-Battery glider men, were best of buddies throughout their time in the service. Over the following decades they kept in close touch. Christmas cards were regularly exchanged. With their wives they traveled to each other’s homes for occasional visits and had telephone conversations at least once or twice a year.

Family members recalled spending a lot of time with their father in the outdoors, duck hunting or fishing for walleye and musky on northern Wisconsin’s Eagle Lake. 

Family camping trips were a particular pleasure for him, as was coaching the local Cub Scout baseball team. After he retired from Borden’s Dairy, Roland Gruebling occupied his time by selling sportsman’s fishing boats and supervising a launching ramp on Lake Michigan. 

Roland Gruebling, 83, died February 23, 2002.

God Bless this hero.

Photos and some content courtesy of Joseph Covais, author of BATTERY

.. and the families of Steve Pongracic and Myron Lepkowski