Pfc. Laurence H. Grim was born in June 9, 1921, to Ernest Grim & Thelma Henthron-Grim in Viola, Wisconsin.  He was the oldest of the couple's five children.  

    Ernest grew up in Readstown, Wisconsin, until his father's automobile shop burnt to the ground.  Not having insurance to rebuild the shop, his father moved the family to Janesville so he could find work.  In Janesville, the family lived at 302 South Randall Avenue.  Laurence attended school in Janesville.  He left high school after his junior year.

    In the fall of 1940, Laurence enlisted, with his best friend, Wesley Fancher,  in the Wisconsin National Guard's 32nd Tank Company  which was housed in an armory in Janesville.  His reason for doing this was that he wanted to fulfill his military service.  He also wanted to be a mechanic, like his father, and would receive the training in the army.  

     In November, 1940, the tank company arrived at Fort Knox, Kentucky, for one year of federal duty.  During this time, he attended mechanic's school and qualified as a mechanic.

    In the fall of 1941, Laurence took part in the Louisiana maneuvers.  It was after these maneuvers that he and the rest of the battalion learned they were being sent overseas.  He returned home on leave and said his goodbyes to family and friends.  

    From Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, Laurence and his battalion sailed for the Philippine Islands.  After stops in Hawaii and Guam, the tank battalion arrived in Manila.  He and the rest of the soldiers spent the next two weeks preparing for maneuvers.

    On December 8, 1941, Laurence lived through the Japanese attack on Clark Airfield.  He spent the next four months working to keep the tanks of A Company running.  This often meant that he and the other mechanics rescuing and cannibalizing tanks that had been knocked out of action by the Japanese.

    On April 9, 1942, Laurence became a Prisoner of War when Bataan was surrendered to the Japanese.  He took part in the death march and was held as a POW at Camp O'Donnell.  It was while he was there, that he developed dysentery.  He was put into the camp hospital, where the doctors and medics worked to help the sick without medicines.  

    On May 23, 1942, Pfc. Laurence H. Grim died of dysentery and malaria at Camp O'Donnell, Philippine Islands.  On the burial detail the day he died, was Ed DeGroot of A Company.  According to Ed, the men working the detail were harden from dealing with death everyday.  He and the other men, would strip the bodies of their clothing because it was needed by the living.  

    The members of the detail would lay the bodies in a trench until it was full.  Ed was placing a body in the trench when he  looked at the dead man's face.  He saw that it was Laurence Grim.  Even though he had become insensitive to seeing so many Americans die, it still bothered Ed that this dead American was someone he knew.

    After the war, Pfc. Laurence H. Grim was reburied at the American Military Cemetery outside Manila.