Last Of WWII Norwegians Seamen Cured In Adirondacks Dies

SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. (AP) — A 97-year-old man believed to be the last of hundreds of World War II-era Norwegian sailors sent to New York's Adirondacks to be cured of tuberculosis has died.

The Adirondack Daily Enterprise reports (http://bit.ly/2v99vRC ) Knute Grytebust (KUH'-noot GRYT'-uh-buhst) died in December and was buried Tuesday in Malone in northern New York.

He was among hundreds of Norwegian sailors who landed in New York City when Germany invaded Norway in 1940. Many of the seamen had contracted TB at sea, so they were sent to Saranac Lake.

Local historians say as many as 500 Norwegians lived in the Adirondack village while being treated. Some stayed at the area's sanatorium, others resided at private dwellings known as "cure cottages."

Although most of the cured sailors went back home, Grytebust remained in Saranac Lake and met his future wife there.

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Information from: Adirondack Daily Enterprise, http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/