U.S. MARINES Wilbur J. "Bill" Grasser Wilbur J. Grasser’s license plate — USMC 42 — is a constant reminder of his decision to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps at age 20 in August of 1942. Born in Lamoine in 1921, Grasser was a student at Marshall College in Huntington, W.Va., when he decided to join the war effort by enlisting in the U.S. Air Force. “My mother wouldn’t sign for the Air Force, which she thought was too dangerous,” Grasser, now 84, recalls. “But she did sign for the Marines.” After basic training in South Carolina at Parris Island, Grasser was sent to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for advanced training that would make him one of the “Leathernecks of the Air” as a member of the 3rd Marine Airwing. For most of the next three years, Grasser would serve as an armorer. It was a job that required the handling of munitions carried into battle in the South Pacific by Marine pilots flying F4U Corsair fighter-bombers off the flight deck of the USS Wasp aircraft carrier and, later in the war, from an airstrip on the island of Guam. “I was trained to do about everything needed to take care of that airplane, but my main job was to make sure that those planes had some firepower,” he said. The first U.S. single-engine production aircraft capable of speeds of 400 mph, the so-called “U-Birds,” were instrumental in warding off kamikaze suicide attacks that were constant threats to the USS Wasp and other warships assigned to the South Pacific. “Every time we shot one down, we figured it was one less to contend with,” he said. Grasser served in the southwest Pacific theatre between September of 1943 and April of 1945. He participated in operations in the northern Solomon Islands, the Bismarck Archipelago and at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. After the capture and occupation of Guam, Grasser spent nearly a year on the island. “There was a lot of action on that island,” Grasser said of Guam. “Lots of open fire and bombs. You had to be capable of putting up with being shot at. It comes quickly. “I came back without a scratch. That was good.” Although the Japanese eventually fled Guam en masse, some resistance remained. A history of Grasser’s Marine Fighting Squadron VMF-216 includes an incident where a Japanese soldier armed with a hand grenade hid himself behind the pilot’s seat of an F4U Corsair. When the pilot arrived, the stowaway set off the grenade, killing himself and damaging the plane, but leaving the pilot uninjured. After being stationed in Guam, Grasser had an opportunity to re-enlist and rejoin the aviation support crew aboard the USS Wasp. “I was going to sign up again, but I was tired of it,” he said. “I’d been gone for three years, and I wanted to come home.” Not long after Grasser arrived stateside, the USS Wasp was attacked at sea. One of the bombs that hit the ship destroyed what would have been Grasser’s sleeping quarters had he re-enlisted. Returning to Maine, Grasser was reunited with the younger sister of a former college roommate. Now his wife of 60 years, Helen Bean and Wilbur Grasser were married in August of 1945 in her hometown of Kenduskeag. When he was formally discharged on Oct. 1, 1945, Grasser held the rank of first sergeant. He was later promoted to staff sergeant while a member of the Marine reserves. Finding work proved a challenge after the war. After insulating houses in Augusta, Wilbur and his bride moved to New York, where he worked for a time as a pin setter in a Brooklyn bowling alley. Eventually, the couple settled down in North Carolina, where Wilbur spent 28 years doing maintenance and construction for the Western Electric Co. The couple now has two daughters, Anita and Dorothy, seven grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. One of their grandsons also served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Wilbur and Helen Grasser now live at 777 Lamoine Beach Road. Their seaside home is across the street from the former location of his birthplace, the “LeMoyne Inn,” a tourist inn Wilbur’s parents operated in the summers. — Tom Walsh