Lt. Grover C. Siems, Jr. was from Montagh, Long Island, New York. After graduating from high scool he worked at the Ranger Airplane Plant in Farmingdale, NY. He soon joined the U.S. Army Air Corps as an Aviation Cadet. He graduated as a fighter pilot in October 1943 at Moore field, Mission, Texas. His exposure to combat aircraft was limited to 10 hours in ageing P-40s. After graduation he was transferred to Dale Mabry Field, Florida, where he received flight training in P-51 Mustangs prior to being shipped to England.

At Gaux Hill, he received combat training in P-51s; and then, he was assigned to the 4th Fighter Group, at Debden as a replacement pilot under Col. Don Blakeslee. Grover, a master at one-upmanship, was soon sporting a pair on non-issue, high British flying boots, so as to appear an old hand in the Group.

The 4th was an aggressive Group, originally made up of the British Eagle Squadrons, and had just switched from P-47 Thunderbolts to P-51 Mustangs, Mission were hot and heavy, as their long range P-51s were called on to escort bombers ever farther into Germany. By 5 Mat 1944 Grover had destroyed his fifth enemy aircraft to become an "Ace". By the end of May several of his former classmates were already missing in action or prisoners of war.

On 6 June, at 2:30 AM, the Group took off in drizzling rain and headed for the invasion front. Grover was assigned to fly cover for a battleship shelling inland targets in support of the invasion troops. He was able to see the ship fire salvos and see the rounds hit their target and explode 15 to 20 miles inland. Later that day, on mission number three, he shot down an Me-109, but crossing near Paris, he received a hit on the right side of his engine, causing it to lose power. By using full-rich fuel mixture he managed to coax it across the Channel and make a dead-stick landing in a coastal pasture.

On 21 June 1944, after several weather delays, the Group took off on its historic shuttle-flight to Russia. They were to escort bombers which were crewed with 4th Group maintenance personnel as gunners, who were to maintain the P-51s during their stay in Russia.

During the mission, as the Group approached Frankfurt the Germans put up a wall of flak and smoke. A close burst killed Grover's engine and he prepared to bail out, but he managed to restart the engine and continue with the Group.

After seven-and-a-half hours they landed on a grass field in Piryatin. Shortly after bedding down for the night, the airfield was attacked by German intruders, causing Grover and his comrades to dive for cover in slit trenches. The next day they took off for Chuquiev, about 200 miles away, for safety from German attack.

On the 26th the Group took off for Italy on the next leg of their odyssey. In Italy there were a couple of days' free time.

Then, on 2 July the 4th were on bomber escort duty to Budapest, Hungary. They encountered a formation of 75 to 80 Me-109s. Siems was flying as Deacon Hively's wingman as Hively shot down a '109 and in turn received fire, losing his canopy and loosening his eyeball from its socket. Grover shot the German off Deacon's tail, but in turn was severely wounded by a cannon shell exploding in his cockpit. He immediately headed back to to Foggia, Italy. Weak from loss of blood, he landed but was unable to get out of the cockpit. Receiving no attention, he managed to kick on his gun switch and send a volley over the control tower. This brought about immediate action, and he was hauled off to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead and sent to the morgue.

Paralysed, but very much alive, he managed to move a finger which moved the sheet covering his body. An orderly, seeing the movement, rushed him back to the hospital, where they immediately gave him transfusions and "brought him back to life". When he became conscious he discovered they had awarded the Purple Heart - posthumously!

That was not the end of his troubles, however. When he recovered he was presented with a statement of charges for $55,000 for his plane, which had disappeared. Fortunately, Grover had made friends with another pilot while in the hospital and who had access to a C-47, and they set out to search for his plane. Within two hours they had found it. A Colonel from 15th AF HQ had adopted it for his own. Since he had not repainted it, it was easy to spot from the air. The Colonel signed off with no argument, and Grover was off the hook.

In September Grover was taken off the 4th Fighter Group's roster and returned to the States, where he was discharged.

He had 7.8 planes to his credit and had earned the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Purple Heart.

In 1993 he died from a burst aneurism.