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Grieb Norman (Henry)

Name:
Norman (Henry) Grieb
Rank:
Corporal
Serial Number:
Unit:
Lafayette Escadrille
Date of Death:
1917-08-28
State:
Pennsylvania
Cemetery:
Lafayette Escadrille Memorial, Marnes-la-Coquette, Departement des Hauts-de-Seine, Īle-de-France, France
Plot:
Row:
Grave:
Decoration:
Comments:

Henry Norman Grieb was born on July 2, 1895 in Philadelphia, PA and was a student and ROTC Cadet at Yale, Class of 1918. In the Spring of 1917, he enrolled in the Yale Ambulance Unit which was being organized for service in France. On 26 May 1917, Grieb sailed for France with 58 other Yale students aboard the S.S. Rochambeau.
Once in France, on 13 June 1917, Grieb enlisted in the Service Aeronautique. From 19 June to 28 August 1917, he attended the aviation school at Avord.
On 1 July 1017, Caporal Grieb was taken with serious injuries to the aviation camp hospital. One source stated that he "suffered fractured ribs and a contusion of the lungs" as a result of an airplane accident. Another source traced his injuries to "a serious wound caused by the accidental discharge of a revolver." A third source said he sustained his injuries when he was run over by an automobile. A fourth source stated that Grieb "had been given his aviator's license and was making a trial flight when his motor died and a forced landing was necessary. While working on the motor, an automobile crashed into the airplane and it was found at the hospital that Grieb had suffered fractured ribs and contusions of lungs." As a result of his injuries, this fourth source continued, he developed pneumonia and died. A fifth source, an American comrade, claimed that he had contracted venereal disease from "the d'Avord girls" and after several weeks in the hospital had ended his life with an overdose of morphine.
Grieb was moved to the French base hospital at Bourges, Cher, where he remained in the convalescence ward of the hospital until his death on 26 August 1917 at the age of 22. He was buried the next day with full military honors in the old cemetery at Bourges. The French Government posthumously awarded Soldat Grieb the Medaille Militaire. In 1928, his remains were transferred to the Lafayette Flying Corps Memorial at St. Cloud.
[Source: "The Lafayette Flying Corps: The American Volunteers in the French Air Service in World War One," by Dennis Gordon. Schiffer Military History, Atglen, PA: 2000. Page 187.]
Educated at Yale University enrolling in their R.O.T.C. program and the Yale Ambulance Unit. Accepted into the Lafayette Escadrille, he received his aviator's license June 13, 1917. Engaged in solo flight training, he encountered through no fault of his own on July 1, 1917, a serious accident. He was taken to the hospital with fractured ribs and contusion of lungs. His prospects for recovery seemed good but he came down with pneumonia and died August 28, 1917.