What happened to Yossel Resien Jr and his friend, Armstrong Grimes?
Armstrong Grimes spent two years being rotated around the former CSA along with his men. In spite of their worst fears, the intermittent violence that would plague most of the region for the first two decades after the war never coalesced into a major regional rebellion, as had occurred in Occupied Canada and Utah.
During the 1944 elections, and throughout his first two years in office, President Dewey repeated his twin promises to “rebuild and reform” the US military and to successfully re-absorb the states of the former CSA. Grimes resigned himself to the prospect of never being released from active duty.
In late 1946, while stationed in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Grimes was brought before one Captain Coolidge Schneider. Schneider, also a veteran of the Canada and Utah theaters during the Second Great War, informed Grimes of a new unit being put together that would consist, “...of people like us.” While not offering any details, Schneider made it clear that it was Grimes’s choice to either stay in Pascagoula on occupation duty, or to join a new unit in the “rebuilt and reformed” US military. Grimes accepted the offer on the spot.
The training for what would the first generation of the United States Army Irregular Forces was grueling, and had a high drop out rate. It also wasn’t long before the Irregular Forces gained the nickname of Gray Berets, fur their service headgear. Grimes succeeded in finishing the year-long course, which took the candidates across the Rocky Mountain West, and began his service with his fellow Gray Berets as Sergeant First Class in January 1948. A two-year-long Officers Training Course at Fort McSweeney, Oregon from 1952-1954 would see Grimes promoted to Second Lieutenant.
It was during his time in Oregon that Grimes would meet his wife, who ran the best-reviewed bed and breakfast in Fort McSweeney. Their marriage was strained by his long absences, yet ultimately endured.
Armstrong Grimes spent over two decades in the Gray Berets, eventually reaching the rank of Captain in 1968 during the Fourth Pacific War. During that conflict, Grimes and his fellow Gray Berets fought in Operation Grizzly, in Mongolia and northern China, and Operation Rainbow Dawn in Korea. Wounded in action during the Battle of Seoul, Grimes would be honorably discharged in 1971.
Armstrong Grimes died in 1985, and was survived by his wife and three children.
In 1994, the city council of Fort McSweeney voted to rename one of its main streets after Armstrong Grimes.
By 2024, one of Grimes’s grandsons is a training to join the United States Irregular Forces, while another grandson is currently a cadet at the Irving Morrell School of Armored Warfare in Topeka, Kansas. One of Grimes’s granddaughters is serving in the United States Air Force, while another granddaughter is a cadet at the United States Air Force Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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Yossel Reisen Jr continued to serve in the US Army until 1952. Reisen and his fellow soldiers were deployed throughout the former CSA, and he participated in battles and skirmishes against rebels during the anti-US insurgency. Reisen was wounded in 1952 during a skirmish with anti-US rebels in Tennessee, and was given an honorable discharge.
Reisen returned to New York City, where he spent the next two years recovering from his injuries. Reisen, with support from the recently passed Veteran’s Education Act, attended the newly opened Empire State Technical College in 1955-1959, where he earned a degree in city planning. Reisen then went to work for the municipal government of New York City. where he would spend the next four decades attached to numerous building projects. Reisen was most fond of his time with the Green Spaces initiative in the 1960s, which involved the city government of New York City dramatically increasing the number of parks and green spaces in the city.
Reisen got married to a librarian in 1956, and would have four children. He remained in contact with his aunt, Flora Blackford, until her death. Reisen was invited to attend the inauguration of President Joshua Blackford in 1973, as well as the president’s second inauguration in 1977.
Reisen did his best to remain in contact with his friend Armstrong Grimes, though this wasn’t easy because of the demands of Grimes’s military service. He did not see Grimes until 1973, when they both attended the first inauguration of President Blackford. During the 1970s, Grimes and Reisen visited each other whenever they could, and remained in correspondence.
Yossel Reisen Jr died in 1996.
By 2024, one of Reisen’s grandsons is beginning university after three years of service in the US Army, while another grandson is beginning a career in the US Navy. One of Reisen’s granddaughters is a cadet at the Coast Guard Academy in Providence, Rhode Island. Another granddaughter is studying theoretical physics at Chicago Science College, while another granddaughter, who has literary ambitions, is studying English and creative writing at the Advanced Center for Literature and Creative Writing, at Stanford University.
