Female workers at AGR Distribution Center No. 8, Chicago, 1947

Gift of Jeannie Brennan
Description: 

Photograph. Integrated female workteam sitting behind individual desks at American Graves Registration Distribution Center No. 8; a man is sitting at the head of the desks. Official caption on front: "AGR Distribution Center No. 8, Chicago, Illinois, 10/13/47 / Main Office - North Section Looking Northwest." Official caption on reverse: "Administrative Section - A portion of the main office of the Center showing a few of the 215 civilian employees needed to handle up to 2,500 remains monthly. Credit line - Army Signal Corps Photo." Personal caption on reverse: "Credit line / Army Signal Corps Photo." Chicago, Illinois. 13 October 1947

Image Information

Accession Number: 
Date: 
10/13/1947
Location: 
Hometown: 
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Theater of Service: 
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Collection Level: 
Items from the service of Lieutenant Colonel Carroll Grinnell, who served in the American Graves Registration Service and oversaw "the receipt, storage and delivery of deceased military personnel to the next of kin" during and after World War II. Carroll “Jimmy” James Grinnell was born on 31 January 1893 in Brownville, New York. He joined the United States Army on 13 November 1913 and was sent to France during World War I. He was honorably discharged on 18 April 1920, but continued to serve in the Reserves. Grinnell graduated with a degree in Engineering in 1927 and was a barracks construction engineer supervisor for the United States Army until he was called to active duty on 19 November 1940. On 22 August 1941, he was sent to Newfoundland, Canada, and returned to the United States on 5 April 1944. He was then assigned to the United States Army Pacific (USARPAC) and sent to oversee the commissary at Schofield Barracks, Oahu, Hawaii, on 21 March 1945. He returned to the United States in late October and began his work at the American Graves Registration Distribution Center No. 8 in Chicago, Illinois. Around 1948, he was then reassigned to a Distribution Center in Schenectady, New York, where he remained until his honorable discharge on 15 August 1949. Grinnell remained in the state of New York for the rest of his life, dying on 8 April 1967 in Sackets Harbor. The collection includes photographs, military orders, and personnel records.
Geography: 
Chicago
Latitude: 
41.850
Longitude: 
-87.650
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials: 
Repatriation of war dead--American--Europe
Repatriation of war dead--American--Asia
Repatriation of war dead--American--Pacific Islands