Vincent Grobbel was born on Jan. 19, 1923 in Center Line, Michigan. Vincent’s father, Clement Grobbel, had been one of the many US Army "Polar Bears" from Michigan who in 1918-1919 fought the Bolshevik Red Army in North Russia during the Russian Civil War.

Vince enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard as an Apprentice Seaman on March 31, 1941. Following boot camp, he was assigned to Beach Patrol and Search & Rescue Stations at Grand Isle, Louisiana and at Port Aransas, Galveston, Corpus Christi, Padre Island and Matagorda Island, Texas. He also took training in Slidell, LA where he learned to operate Higgins landing craft.

Having achieved the rate of Boatswain's Mate First Class, in Jan. 1945 he was one of the few experienced sailors assigned to the original crew of the USS Davenport (PF-69), a patrol frigate. The Davenport was fully commissioned on February 15, 1945 and in nine months of service, she logged 24,000 nautical miles while sailing to various ports including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Oran, Algeria, Norfolk, VA, New York City, NY, Charleston, SC and Reykjavik, Iceland.

At 2000 hours on April 18, 1945, the Davenport was about 250 miles east-southeast of New York City while enroute from Hampton Roads, Virginia to Casco Bay, Maine. 80 minutes later the Davenport made a sonar contact with what was evaluated as a submarine. All hands went to General Quarters and they attacked the contact with Mk. 10 projectiles. They lost the contact, only to regain it several hours later. This pattern repeated itself over the next three days until they were ordered by the Commander of the Eastern Sea Frontier to discontinue the search and resume their voyage to Casco Bay.

On April 27, 1945 the Davenport began escorting Convoy UGS-89 to Oran, Algeria. Five days after VE Day, the convoy arrived safely and the Davenport crew enjoyed 9 days of R&R in sunny Algeria. In June 1945, the Davenport was converted into a weather ship and then assigned Weather Station duties in the middle of the North Atlantic to provide weather reports and Search & Rescue support for the thousands of warplanes being ferried westward from Europe.

The Davenport was battered by tropical storm force winds in Oct. 1945 while at Weather Station #4 (800 miles northeast of Newfoundland). Needing extensive repairs, the ship was laid up at the Boston Navy Yard until Feb. 4, 1946, when it was finally decommissioned. Vincent Grobbel served aboard the ship up to the day of the decommissioning.

During the next few months he was assigned to USCG Air Station Salem (Mass.) and then the USCG Station at Rockland, Maine.

Following his discharge on June 1, 1946, Vincent returned to Center Line where he served as a volunteer firefighter for 25 years in addition to his day job as a plumber. Vincent Grobbel passed away on July 29, 2013.

Vincent A Grobbel