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Manning Monitor article------ 1943
Writes From Australia Ralph has been gone two years and he writes, that during that time, he has never met a single person from Manning or vicinity---so getting the paper is like meeting a person from home. He says the people and country were strange and hard to get used to at first but he is now considered a fair Aussie.
On Christmas day the sun was shining bright and most people spent the day at the
beaches-quite different than Christmas in Iowa. Explains English Money Sgt. Ralph McGrath of the 202nd Signal Depot Co., somewhere in Australia, explains the value of the English money compared with ours. He says that a pound note is worth $3.22. There are also half pound notes. The flaren, the size of a half dollar, is worth 33 cents; a shilling, the size of a quarter, 16 cents; sixpence, like our nickle is worth 8 cents; a threepence, the size of our dime, about 4 cents, and a pence, the size of our dollar, 1 and a third cents. There is a crown that is worth 5 shillings, but they are scarce. The paper money differs in size, depending upon the note, as L-1, 5 and 10 are all different sizes.
He says that he has received 3 copies of the "Monitor" and that they surely looked good,
much better than when he was home: He states that a company of W.A.A.C.s' , are next
door and the boys are now expecting a little maid service. Ralph McGrath writes from Australia that he can add another stripe on his blouse for six months overseas service. He now has an army drivers' license and does a great deal of driving. He says that the English cars are so small that you put them on instead of getting into them; also that the left hand drive is quite a trick. He states that the weather and country are grand but he certainly would enjoy being back in the states. The 49th State Ralph McGrath writes from Australia that there are so many Yanks in Australia that they call it the 49th state; also that just being a Yank puts you in solid. He says that the girls and the dances are much like those at home and they cost the equivalent of a dollar. The Australian penny is as large as our dollar and the other money varies in size at the same rate. Notes or bills vary in size according to the value. A 20 dollar bill is about four times as large as a 5 dollar one. Manning Monitor article------ 1944
Brings Greetings from Australia Manning Monitor article------ 1945
COMING HOME AFTER FOUR YEARS IN PACIFIC
His brother, Bob McGrath, S 2-c, will receive his first leave from Great Lakes beginning
Nov. 5. He will have nine days in his home here. |
Ten more young men left for Omaha at 4:38 this morning to be
Inducted into the U.S. Army under the selective service act, bringing to 60 the
total sent from this county in response to the eight calls issued since the act
was invoked. Of this group only seven men have been rejected. Those leaving
today are shown above: front row left to right: Victor B. Keehner and Hilbert H.
Balk, Carroll, Clarence J. Fischer and Vincent B.
Langel, Templeton, and Henry H. Stoffers, Westside; back row: Joseph P.
Capdevielle, Manning, Frederick H. Rudi, Glidden, Harold J. Kienapfel, and Ralph H. McGrath,
Manning, and Edward J. Eischeid, Halbur.
Carroll Daily Herald Mar 26, 1941
Ralph H. McGrath of Manning has been assigned to duty with
the second signal detachment at Fort Lewis, Washington, and Joseph C. McCormick
of Tabor has been assigned to duty with the forty-second engineers at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.
Daily Nonpareil Council Bluffs, April 10, 1941
Mr. and Mrs. Dan R. McGrath entertained at a family dinner
Sunday in observance of the birthday of their son, Ralph McGrath, whose
birthday is November 10. It was the first time in five years that the entire
family had been together. Those present were Mrs. Louis F. Moser, Mr. and Mrs.
Ralph McGrath and daughter, Sandra Marie, Mr. and Mrs. Ray Pratt and daughter,
Carolyn Marie, S 1/c Robert McGrath, who completed a nine-day leave from Great
Lakes, Illinois, and Cadet Nurse Mary McGrath of Omaha and Council Bluffs who
spent Sunday and Monday home here. Ralph McGrath received his discharge at Jefferson
Barracks, Missouri, after serving in the Army for about five years. He recently returned from New Guinea.
Carroll Daily Times Herald, November 17, 1945
Sergeant Ralph H. McGrath called from Tacoma, Washington,
Tuesday noon to tell he had just landed from the USS General Mitchell and would
be discharged at Jefferson Barracks and would be home sometime next week. Sgt.
McGrath has been in service for nearly five years, four of them spent in the South
Pacific. His brother, Bob McGrath, S 2/c, will receive his first leave from
Great Lakes beginning November 5. He will have nine days in his home here. They are sons of Mr. and Mrs. Dan R. McGrath.
Carroll Daily Times Herald, November 1, 1945
Ralph Harding McGrath, 56, of Manning died unexpectedly en route to St. Anthony Regional Hospital, Carroll, Friday evening, July 21, 1972. He was president and general manager of the M.J.M. Enterprises of Manning.
Rites will be held at 4 p.m. Monday at the Ohde Funeral Home in Manning, with burial in the Manning Cemetery. The Rev. Carl Sinning of Guthrie Center will officiate.
Mr. McGrath was born here November 10, 1915, a son of Dan and Marie (Moser) McGrath. He graduated from Manning High School in 1933.
He served five years in the United States Army with the 202nd Signal Corps, and after leaving the service came to Manning to work for the Dultmeier Manufacturing Company. His marriage to Lorraine Kahler of Denison took place at Tacoma, Washington, July 19, 1941.
Survivors include his wife; two daughters, Mrs. Ray Eric (Sandra) Sorensen of Lexington, Missouri; and Mrs. Jeffrey (Vicki) Hannasch of Manhattan, Kansas; two grandsons, Eric and Matthew; two sisters, Mrs. Ray (Helen) Pratt and Mrs. Arved (Mary) Stangl, both of Manning; and a brother, Robert McGrath, of Beaumont, Texas.