Arthur was born Oct 30, 1921, in New York to Agnes (Hedwall) and Arthur Gruenberg. He was the oldest of 3 children. At age 16 his family moved to Hideaway Park (Winterpark), Colorado, where they took up ranching.
In 1940 he volunteered for the Marines. His first orders were to the Asiatic fleet where their mission was to protect American interests in Shanghai, China. In November 1941 he was transferred to Philippines’ island of Corregidor. The island fell to the Japanese in May of 1942 and he was taken prisoner. As a POW for 3.5 years in the Philippines and in Japan, he endured many hardships, including transport to Japan on a “hell ship”, typhus, malaria, malnutrition which led to losing sight in his left eye, and physical and mental cruelty. Arthur remained in Marines after liberation and went on to serve in the Korean conflict, where as a member Fox Company, he would fight in what is one of the Marine Corp’s signature battles and the Korean conflict’s greatest battle: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign’s Battle for Fox Hill. Once again, Arthur survived against all odds; temperatures of -30, no food, being shot, taking grenade shrapnel to his leg, and frostbite, to become one of the “Chosin Few”.
Arthur spent most of his civilian life in the Seattle area, where he worked as a heavy equipment operator. In 2016, at the age of 95, he moved to Eden Prairie to be closer to his daughter. He made visits back to Washington every summer, driving solo, where he would spend time with old friends, before driving himself back. He loved driving, and continued to do so, until shortly before his death, when a broken right leg took that joy away. True to form, Arthur survived surgery to repair his leg and was back home making remarkable progress in therapy – putting 60 year olds to shame, as one doctor put it – when a series of medical issues compounded, landing him in a transitional care facility, where he ultimately contracted COVID-19 and died.
They told him being a Japanese POW would take 10 years off his life – apparently, he was supposed to live to 109. He lived a very full 99 years, remaining independent and handling all of his own affairs, until the end. He hung in there long enough to usher in his 99th birthday, election day 2020 to ensure his absentee vote would be legitimate, and to see the Biden/Harris victory.
Arthur was preceded in death by his parents, wife Dorothy, brother and sister-in-law Eugene and Irene Gruenberg, sister Louise Butler, nephew Clifford Gruenberg, great-nephew Alex Gruenberg, and companion Dolores Olsen.
He is survived by daughters Barbara Michels of Phoenix, AZ and Christine (Steven) Brinkman of Eden Prairie, MN; and grandchildren Andrea Brinkman of Minneapolis, MN and Matthew Brinkman of Duluth, MN.
Internment and a committal celebration will be held Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis at a later date, due to the pandemic.
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