Grandstaff, Vern – 1927-1949

FUNK, GRANDSTAFF, VAVERKA

Posted By: Diana Wagner
Date: 7/13/2021 at 21:35:30

Military Service On Saturday for Vern Grandstaff
Final rites for Seaman First Class Vern Grandstaff, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Grandstaff of Newton, will be held at 1:30 o’clock Saturday afternoon at the Morgan Funeral Home in Newton.
Seaman Grandstaff died from wounds received in action while serving on an LST at Okinawa April 28, 1945. He had been wounded when his ship was hit by a Japanese suicide plane April 22.
Rev. Lowell McConnell, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, will officiate. The Newton American Legion will conduct military graveside rites at the Newton Union cemetery. Seaman Grandstaff’s body was returned to Newton this morning.
He was born in Grinnell Nov. 5, 1927, and attended the Grinnell and Newton schools before entering the service in November 1943. He received his boot training at Farragut, Ida., and had served at Pearl Harbor, Leyte in the Phillippines and at Okinawa before he was killed.
He was only 18 when he died. Besides his parents, he is survived by three brothers, all of whom were in the service, Fred Grandstaff of LaPorte City, Robert of Grinnell and Roy of Des Moines, and two sisters, Mrs. Lewis VaVerka of Des Moines and Mrs. Bernell Funk of Newton.
Source: The Newton Daily News; Thursday, March 17, 1949, page 1, col. 3