Donald Grisen

30Jan26 – 6Feb1945

Edison Days

Donald graduated with the Class of June 1943. As can be seen by his yearbook entry, he was an excellent student, and active with numerous organizations and clubs at school. After high school he studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota.

Military Service

Rank: Private First Class

Branch: United States Army

Unit: Company G – 275th Infantry Regiment – 70th Infantry Division

Donald enlisted in the army on 10May1944. By December, he was earning a Combat Infantryman’s Badge in the Battle of the Bulge as a member of Task Force Herren which was made up of the three infantry regiments (274th, 275th, 276th) of the 70th Division. The task force was initially in defensive positions along the west bank of the Rhine River, in the vicinity of Bischweiller, south of Haguenau Forest. When the enemy struck to the west, Task Force Herren units were rushed to help blunt the attack and participated in bitter actions in Northeastern France at the height of the battle. The Germans were attempting to drive south from the Bitche sector and north from the Colmar pocket with the objective of cutting off the entire Seventh Army west of Saverne Pass. Elements (some were attached to other HQs during this period) struck the enemy at Phillipsbourg and at Wingen. In mid-January the division moved to an area directly south of the German border bastion of Saarbrucken and carried out reconnaissance and combat patrols and improved defensive positions.

During the first week of February 1945, the division continued consolidating and improving defensive positions, patrolling, and conducted combat raids. It was on a combat raid near Grosbliederstroff, France when Donald was killed.

Donald was originally reported as Missing in Action.

In 1948 Donald’s body was returned to Minnesota and he is buried at Resurrection Cemetery in Mendota Heights, MN.

After the war, the town of Grosbliederstroff, where Donald was killed, erected a monument to the 70th Infantry Division, and to the US soldiers that died to liberate the town from the Germans. Thank you to Jon Strupp for alerting me to existence of this memorial, and to VF for providing the photographs and the link to the YouTube video.