Nowadays, it’s hard to find a real hero, but the town of Mitchell, Indiana, has a famous one: astronaut Virgil “Gus” Grissom. In his lifetime, Gus earned two bachelor’s degrees, one in mechanical engineering and one in aeronautics. He flew 100 combat missions in Korea as a fighter pilot, earning him the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with an oak leaf cluster. He was hand-selected to be an accomplished flight instructor and test pilot in the NASA space program.
He was the sole pilot for the Mercury-Redstone Space Flight and the command pilot for the Gemini 3 space flight, becoming the first person to be in space twice. He also helped design NASA flight controls and cockpits, furthering the U.S. space program.
He became a national celebrity as a NASA astronaut before his life tragically ended during a pre-launch test on January 27, 1967. The oxygen inside the Apollo 1 capsule ignited, causing an explosion that killed Grissom and his two fellow astronauts. But it all started in the small town of Mitchell, Indiana, on the corner of 8th Street and what’s now known as Grissom Avenue, at the humble home where he grew up. Often, we forget that greatness starts somewhere; truthfully, it can start anywhere.
At Gus Grissom’s boyhood home, the sun rises and falls every day, just like it did when Gus lived there. There’s a calmness in the air that blows the flag on the porch, where Gus played with his friends and went to school without knowing where his life would go. The screen door has a G in the center for Grissom, a name that will be remembered for the ages. But when he lived there, all he knew was that he’d marry his school sweetheart, get a job in town, and live the rest of his days happily ever after in Mitchell, Indiana.
Gus delivered morning and evening papers, worked at a meat market, gas station, and clothing store, and later built school buses at a factory. When he went to Purdue, he could have even been the person who made your meal, as he was a part-time cook. But life had other plans for him. In the yard, a stone says the nearby tree was once a seed on a spacecraft sent into the heavens and planted here as a memorial. But in the backyard, a large round maple tree reaches up to the sky. You can only wonder if Gus climbed this tree, sat on its branches, and looked up to a place he never imagined it would go. And that’s where dreams start.
Near 409 South Sixth Street, a limestone Gemini rocket aims toward the sky in Gus Grissom’s honor. It stands on the site of where his elementary school once was. A sign in the back states that even the school’s bricks were used to build the wall around the monument. Never in his wildest dreams, sitting at his desk at school, could he have imagined the school gone and a monument placed here in his honor.
Just down the road on Highway 60 is Spring Mill State Park. If you turn right after the gatehouse, the Gus Grissom Memorial lies. Inside are mementos from his life, his less-than-stellar report cards, and his accomplishments as an astronaut. It has Gus Grissom’s Air Force uniform, his space helmet, a spacesuit, and the Gemini space capsule he commanded, called the Molly Brown, named after a lady who survived the Titanic disaster.
Gus Grissom’s life tells a story that resonates with all of us. It’s a story of roadblocks, tragedy, and victory. But with one foot in front of the other, if we keep moving and aim high, there’s no telling where our dreams will take us.
