08/31/2026
On This Day In History, WWII Veteran, Staff Sgt. Given Clifford Grooms, Is Born In Adams County, Ohio.
Given Clifford Grooms was born 31 Aug 1922, in Adams County, Ohio, to Elbert Lyman & Hazel Opal (Herdman) Grooms, the fifth of six siblings, three daughters, and three sons.
He grew up in Waverly and attended Waverly High School, and entered military service, 10 Nov 1942, at Fort Thomas in Huntington, WV, for the 718th Bombardment Squadron, 449th Bombardment Group, serving as a Radio Operator.
On 30 Jan 1944, while returning from a bombing mission against enemy forces near Udine, Italy, their B-24 Liberator 'Jumbo' was shot down by German Luftwaffe fighters. They crashed on the Isle of Morgo, a small, mostly uninhabited island, in Grado Lagoon, on the western boundary of the Gulf of Trieste, on the northernmost edge of the Adriatic Sea, and he was reported Missing In Action.
SS Grooms was Awarded and Received the Purple Heart, Air Medal, Good Conduct Medal, as well as the Presidential Unit Citation.
Staff Sergeant Grooms was memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery in Italy, and an Army Monument has been placed at his parent's grave site at Mt. Latham Cemetery, in Pike County, Ohio.
On 9 Jun 2026, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), the military agency responsibile to recover and identify missing U.S. military personnel from past conflicts, and provide answers to their families, identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Given Clifford Grooms, missing from World War II.
Staff Sergeant Grooms entered the US Army Air Forces and served with the 718th Bombardment Squadron, 449th Bombardment Group (Heavy). He was a crew member aboard a B-24H Liberator, "Jumbo" serial number 41-29217, when it was shot down on 30 Jan 1944, while returning from a bombing mission against enemy forces near Udine, Italy.
The aircraft crashed on the Isle of Morgo in the Adriatic Sea. Two members of the crew were recovered and identified shortly after the crash, while the remaining crewmen were listed as missing. Between 2010 and 2014, U.S. recovery teams investigated the crash site and recovered material evidence and human remains associated with the loss of the aircraft.
In 2015, the remains of navigator 2nd Lt Harry B McGuire were identified from among those recovered. Continued scientific analysis ultimately led to the identification of Staff Sergeant Grooms on 9 Jun 2026, more than 82 years after the loss of the aircraft.
