March 14th…“DID YOU EVER MEET A GERMAN SOLDIER FROM WORLD WAR II?”
The honorable and much loved man, Hermann Robert Grocholl (1925 – 2002) was admired by thousands of Battle Ground School District students during his many decades as a faithful custodian. This dear man was affectionately called “Hermann, The German” and it was a title given with love, that’s for sure.
Hermann once told me, in his German-flavored English…. “In Germany, dah veendows are dah meeror of yer house!! Ifn’s yer veendows are dirty, so likely yer house izz dirty inside, too!!” Such were the words of wisdom that came from a very short-statured and gentle man that was a GIANT in many fine ways. Like cowboys of the Old West, Hermann Grocholl had his own type of ‘gun holster’, only for Hermann, his holster was an empty quart spray bottle cut down (with slits for his belt) so that a smaller pint spray bottle of glass cleaner could fit into the plastic holster and be with him at all times. With his rags, squeegee and Windex, that German gentleman carried on ‘window-cleaning warfare’ and made those glass, school window panes just sparkle. He had the mindset that he never wanted any visitor to the outside of his schools to think the INSIDE was dirty. Clean windows, therefore, were his ‘crest of honor’ and his ‘seal’ that everything was ship shape inside, too.
It may have carried over from his days as a German Naval shipman during World War II, but I can never recall a time that I didn’t see Hermann wearing his yachtsman’s cap. I’ll muse that, possibly, he wanted a connection to that time of his young life, but, it also may have originated from the fact that when that fun-spirited custodian wasn’t cleaning his school, you could bet that he and his dear wife were on nearby Northwest rivers or lakes with their kayak.
One day, as this gentle soul of a man and I were cleaning his school, I asked him, “Hermann, I just can’t imagine that you were part of Hitler’s Army during the war!” His response was immediate and made a LOT of sense, “Vell, yew vus eeder in dee Army, or yew vas SHOT DEAD………For me???…I vas in dee Army!!”
In the beginning of his military career, Hermann was assigned to the German Navy. The ship he was assigned to was sunk near Norway, so rather than wait to be assigned to a new warship, my custodian friend was transferred into the German Army Artillery and sent to the coast of France. These were the days just before the Allied Invasion of Normandy in the late spring of 1944.
My kind-hearted custodian friend relayed to me how, in France, “Dah Allies vood come over und bomb us daily. Vee vood retreat und set up our artillery again, und day vood bomb us sohm more. Finally, I yust kept on retreatin’!!!!” (he’d had enough of Hitler’s Army and ran Away With Out Leave….also known as A.W.O.L.) To preserve his own life, he fled his regiment and tried to get to the Allied Lines to surrender. Alas, he and some other German soldiers were captured by their fellow countrymen and imprisoned in a “Deserter’s Camp”. He shared to me how that it was customary for deserters to be executed within a day or so of capture, so he and some buddy prisoners managed to escape that night and finally WERE able to reach the American Lines and offered themselves up for surrender. His war years were finally over.
In 1952, Hermann’s family were able find sponsors (a Mr. Charles C. James family) in the Battle Ground, Washington area that allowed them to come to America and begin a new life here. Hermann, gratefully, was able to secure a custodian job with the Battle Ground Schools and started his new career here in the freedom of his newly-adopted land of America. I understand that part of his payment for services was to enjoy living in an apartment above the Battle Ground High School Home Economics Department. (Author’s note: The Grocholl’s apartment is to the upper left in the above photo of the Home Economics Building……that has since been torn down. Photo credits for this wonderful historic photo go to Louise McKay Allworth Tucker and came from her book, “Battle Ground….In And Around”.) After his retirement from the school district, this sweet-natured couple were able to find a small cottage on the east side of town to call home for their remaining years here on earth.
To relate another story of Hermann and myself, it had been almost 30 years since Hermann’s wartime experiences, yet the trauma of those times still lingered within him as I was about to find out on one occasion. After school, one day, at Lewisville Intermediate, there were three of us standing in a very acoustically loud hallway. Hermann had his back to me while talking to my working buddy. Without any real reason, I made a loud CLAP of my hands right behind that good-natured German man. Within half a blink, Hermann spun around and had his fists up, ready to fight me. I was shocked, of course! Here’s what he said, “Don’t chew DO DAT!!!! I’m schtill shell shocked from dah Var!!” And he meant it to!
Both Hermann Grocholl, and his dear wife, Maria, are gone now, but I counted it a joy to know him and the pleasures he gave to this Norwegian Farmer’s Son.
(Author’s Note: The photo below shows another fine aspect of the Hermann Grocholl family’s upstairs apartment, on the left, in this building that was originally the Battle Ground School District’s Bus Barn and then was remodeled to the Home Economics Building in later years. Photo credit for this fine photo goes to the honorable Harold Johnson who grew up in the Battle Ground area and became Superintendent of Schools here.)
Norwegian Farmer's Son 