PHOTO PROVIDED Grover L. Secules was age 22 when he entered the military during WWI. He was from Clinton Township.

MONTGOMERY – Born near Hillsgrove, Sullivan County, Grover L. Secules was age 22 when entering the military. He had been a farm worker with two years of high school, a higher education than the required eight grades unusual for rural youth. It was late in the Great War when Secules was summoned to duty.

The Army private had but two months of training before he was shipped to and arriving at Brest, France October 28, 1918. In two weeks, the war ended with Secules reporting he had not been involved in any encounters. His assignment was with the 36th Company, Ninth Battalion, 153rd Depot Brigade.

The company would remain for a large portion of the winter before being shipped back to the states, arriving in Newport News, Virginia, on February 23, 1919. The local soldier was discharged three weeks later from camp Fort Dix, NJ.

The veteran wed Myra Phillips and was in agriculture in the Penn Township area until purchasing a farm in Clinton Township, Lycoming County. Born to the couple were Helen, Louis, Martha and Shirley.

Grover was a son of Lewis A. and Clara (Shoemaker) Secules. Born in 1896, the veteran died January 16, 1988, and interred with his spouse at Pleasant Hill Cemetery near Hughesville.