Gwynne Allen Conrad

GRAVESITE INFO: Gwynne and Nellie Grace are both buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Section 2, site E139. Per Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006. Section 2 is on the side of a hill below Arlington House. It is bounded on the top by Roosevelt Drive (may say Avenue) and on the lower side by Grant. To locate the site, follow the pedestrian path up Roosevelt. You will pass Grant on your left. Continue on Roosevelt until you are about in the middle of the top side of the section. Start walking down the hill and you will see the gray headstone marked "CONRAD" directly under a tree (see photos on this site for image). Maps are available in the visitor center to help you locate the site. cch/6-18-2008

Family stories:

(1) Gwynne lied about his age to enlist in the US Army--he was under-age.

(2) He was a chief baker and according to Paul, he often critiqued Nellie's cakes.

(3) He helped with the restoration of Arlington House (Lee Mansion); Louise, his daughter, used a bench at her piano which she said was made by the cabinet-maker who did the restoration in the mansion. She gave it away a year or two before she died.

(4) This Christmas story comes from her:

According to her, she and brother Paul sneaked upstairs sometime before Christmas Eve and found the closet where their Christmas presents were stored. It was the family custom to put the tree and the presents out on Christmas Eve after the children were in bed. When Paul and Louise came downstairs on Christmas morning, they were horrified that there was no tree or presents. Nellie and Gwynne told the children they knew they'd gotten into the closet upstairs and that they'd spoiled Christmas and there just wouldn't be any tree or presents that day. Louise said they were just about to start crying when Nellie, threw open the doors to the dining room and there was the tree with all the presents. The children had a good scare and never tried that trick again!

(5) A few months before he died of cancer in 1946, he received the Legion of Merit service medal while. A photo of him receiving the medal was found in Louise's personal things after her death. She mistakenly identified it as the Medal of Honor but in looking through the different types of decorations, I was able to identify it as the Legion of Merit. cch/4-20-2008