Joseph “Joe” Grossman was born in 1927 in Syracuse, New York. He had seven siblings, and his father was self-employed in the trucking business during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. Both of his parents were European immigrants. His brother served in the Air Force during World War 2 and was a prisoner of war for two years. His other brother served in the military stateside. His brother-in-law served in the Army and was killed at the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. His family got along. He and his siblings went to school and enjoyed their neighborhood. He only heard about the uprising of Asian and European hostilities through the radio, but he never thought America would go to war. When he heard about Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], he felt everyone was in a tizzy and that no one knew the future would be. His family became very concerned about what was going on in the war.

Joseph “Joe” Grossman enlisted in the Navy in June 1944 because he liked water. He was sent to basic training at Sampson Naval Training Station in New York for eight weeks. After his basic training, he was then sent to gunnery training in California. He was assigned to serve as a gunner aboard a merchant ship with the Naval Armed Guard. He boarded a cargo ship and sailed in a convoy across the Atlantic to North Africa. There were 12 men in the crew and a crew chief. He enjoyed his deployment as a Navy Armed Guardsman. Grossman recalls taking aboard a complement of Senegalese soldiers to bring to Marseille [Annotator’s Note: Marseille, France]. Much of his time overseas was a “gray area.” He was not allowed to go on shore except in Antwerp [Annotator’s Note: Antwerp, Belgium]. There were buzz bombs [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug] hitting the city when he was visiting. He returned to the States before the end of the war and was reassigned to the USS Abercrombie (DE-343) on the West Coast as a gunner. Not long after he was on board, the war ended. He was discharged as a Seaman First Class in June 1946 from Great Lakes Naval Training Station [Annotator’s Note: Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Illinois]. He returned Syracuse [Annotator’s Note: Syracuse, New York] and joined the 52-20 club [Annotator's Note: a government-funded program that paid unemployed veterans 20 dollars per week for 52 weeks].

After Joseph “Joe” Grossman was discharged from the Navy, he adjusted back to civilian life without difficulty. Grossman did not take advantage of the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment], but found employment as a salesman. His most memorable experience of World War 2 is that he survived and met different people. He fought because everyone else was serving and he felt that he needed to do his part. He had no regrets about joining the Navy. Because of the war, he met his wife and has been happily married. His service gave him experience and he was able to associate with other men that had similar experiences. He believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], but it will only remain important to veterans and their families.