Additional thoughts of PFC Gross from PFC Stevens:

My dad, PFC Gordon Stevens, relieved Gross at the radio after the first 36 hours.

Shoup's CP on Red Beach 2.

These are some of my dad's thoughts on John Gross:

"Gross, as near as I can remember, was the same age(age 23). He enlisted about a week before I did (January 19, 1942) and used to kid kid me about having a lower serial number. John was from Racine, Wisconsin, and worked for an optical company in Milwaukee.

Staff Sergeant Pete Zurlinden, the Marine Correspondent, sent the story of John's citation to both Racine papers and Milwaukee papers. Each town was having a feud on whose favorite son he was. John looked forward to going home and enjoying the publicity. I do not remember what officer wanted to give John the Medal of Honor, but a panel for the Second settled on the Navy Cross. I remember well how nervous John was the morning they awarded him the medal.

John was from a large family but I lost contact with then after his Mother and Father died. The family had John brought back to Racine and they buried him in the hometown cemetary. John was killed by our own rockets fired from a plane on Saipan, along with two other of my buddies. There were other casualties in another outfit, plus some minor wounds among our group. I had written home to John's folks saying he was killed by Jap shellfire but some Marine replacement in our utfit told his folks the truth and they became very bitter about John's death. I visited the folks a number of times amd wrote, but later stopped after his parents died. His brother, Jerome, was in the Army on Saipan and came to see me there.

John was also very serious over a redhead from New Zealand by the name of Alice. I never did hear how she took John's death as her address was in John's effects."

Gross, John M, Cpl