Northern Michigan is remembering a generational hero who died last week at the age of 104.
Dick Grout served our country in WWII and was part of both the D-Day landing and the Battle of the Bulge.
Like so many in his generation, Dick felt compelled to serve as the United States found itself pulled into WWII in December 1941.
“So I went to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, which is a, military engineering school. And, I think for, something like three months. And I graduated as a second lieutenant within a week. I was on a ship on my way to England,” recalled Dick in an interview recorded several years ago.
A combat engineer, Dick’s service eventually brought him to Omaha beach in Normandy on D-Day.
He was part of the first wave to land there.
“The beach was under heavy fire at that time from, the Germans, but particularly, small arms fire because the, German friends were up in the hills looking down at the beach, and the first thing to do was look for some kind of cover or where you could, get away, particularly from that small arms stuff.
“Our specific job was to open up an exit from the beach, so as later on in the day, as vehicles, tanks and so forth came in, they would be able to get off the beach,” Dick said.
Dick would later find himself in another tide-turning battle of the war at the Battle of the Bulge, where he’d suffer a leg injury.
“We were under heavy mortar fire, The Germans were maybe a quarter of a mile on the other side of the river. So they knew we were there. They knew what we’re trying to do. And yeah, I, and a couple others got hit on that one, leg like and back it was pretty well torn up.
Dick eventually found his way to Northern Michigan and earlier this year was awarded France’s highest honor for his service in WWII.
And Dick’s sense of service continued long after the end of the war.
“I would say the single biggest thing about his outreach to the community is how quiet he was about it. He never talked about personal donations of money. He talked about participating in activities, whether it be church or Rotary or International Affairs. The donation of his time was the easiest thing to see, but even then he was fairly quiet about it. So whether you were close to him by going to a social event, or a cultural event or just seeing him on Sundays, you felt that he was part of your circle. And that’s an unusual, I think, capacity to be so welcomed by such a broad range of people,” said longtime friend Chuck Cady.
A celebration of Dick’s life will be held on Jan. 18 in Suttons Bay.
He’ll be buried in Massachusetts.
