Gruett, Edward Albert
Navy Reserves Aviation ordnanceman 3rd classrd class
Edward Albert Gruett from Rhinelander, Wisconsin, Oneida county.
Parents: Adelaide Wangomann
Service era: World War II
Date of death: March 1, 1945
Source: National Archives, Rhinelander Daily News (1945)
His mother was remarried to Theodore Wangemann, after her first husband, Edward Gruett, died at age 30. Her last name, as listed above, is misspelled.
His nickname was Bud. He was KIA on 1 March 1945 near Ishigaki Jima near Okinawa Japan, after coming out of an attack on a Japanese destroyer. The crew’s Avenger was catastrophically hit by the destroyer’s AAA guns, and plunged into the Pacific at high speed. The bodies were not recovered.