Merle Grimes was a US soldier during the Great War. He was wounded in the leg and walked with a cane for the rest of his life. After the war, he settled in Washington, DC, where he married Edna Semphroch. The couple had two children, Armstrong and Annie. Merle's relationship with his son was somewhat antagonistic, as he saw Armstrong as a slacker, while the boy thought his father made too much of his war wound. When Armstrong was conscripted into the army, Merle congratulated him with the comment that the army would make a man of him; Armstrong thought that it was an honor he could do without.