WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL - S/Sgt. Jennings C. Greuter

 

Staff Sergeant Jennings Closson Greuter

His name is the last one on the monument, out of order alphabetically. Thanks to the work of Wimm and Nadine Jacobs, keepers of Greuter's grave in Belgium, Kent Miller, World War II historian from Hicksville,, and Tanya Brunner of the Defiance County Veterans Office, this lost soldier was found. His name was engraved on the stone in 2011. in 2000 and before the monument was erected, no evidence could be found of a Defiance County connection with Greuter, but later, with more resources available, it became obvious that he was a native son.

Sources name both Paulding County (draft card) and Defiance County as his birthplace on April 5, 1923.

His parents, Elmer and Pearl Greuter, definitely lived in Defiance, at 840 Perry Street, in 1930, when the Federal Census was taken.  Elmer was a truck driver for a poultry farm and Jennings, 7, was the oldest son.  By 1940, they had moved to Jackson Township in Paulding County. Jennings, 17, worked on a farm, and he was surrounded by eight siblings, with the last, Jannett, being three years old.

On June 30, 1942, Jennings filled out his draft registration. Later, in February 1943, he travelled to Toledo to enlist in the U. S. Army Air Force. He was single with a grammar school education, and his skill was as a mechanic, repairing motor vehicles. Pvt. Greuter was assigned to the 338th Bomber Squad, 96th Bomber Group (Heavy), and trained as a tail gunner.

At some point, perhaps on a furlough, he married Alies (Alice) Stark, daughter of Joseph and Grace (Caspers) Stark. She lived in Hicksville while he was away, and gave birth to a son, Lawrence, in November 1944. He was never to meet his father who died May 12, 1944.

The bomber crew, SSgt Jenning Greuter, in the back row at the far right. He is with his
B-17 flight crew, part of the 338th Bomber Squadron of the 96th Bomber Group.

"The flight left Frankfort, Germany, on May 12, 1944 on Greuter's mission. The target that day was the oil refineries at Brux, Czechoslovakia. The 8th Army Air Corp took heavy losses that day to both enemy planes and flak.

Greuter's plane was hit and went into a spin. According to the Missing Air Crew Report #5359, Greuter was last heard from inside the plane when he cried out over the interphone, wondering, 'What has happened?' in the first spin.

He did not make it out of the plane and went down with the aircraft. Six of the men were killed in action; four of the men were captured and served as prisoners of war. (Greuter was KIA.)

Any remains that were recovered were buried in the Community Cemetery at Usingen/Tanus in the southwest corner in a common grave on May 13, 1944. The bodies were later exhumed and put into the American military cemetery in Belgium."

Kent Miller

Because of this Belgian couple, Sgt Jennings Greuter, was honored rightfully in his hometown. As they commented in a Crescent-News article on October 17, 2016:

"The name of Staff Sergeant Jennings C. Greuter listed on the memorial is very important to us. It is a form of recognition for an achievement that has been delivered and should never be forgotten...

This generation gave their lives for our freedom and should never be forgotten" they said. "Passing on this information to future generations is very important to us."

His son, Lawrence (Larry) was able to attend the dedication of his father's name on the monument.

Sgt. Greuter received both the Purple Heart and the Army Air Medal.

Researchers - Robert Carpenter, Kent Miller, and Tanya Brunner