Gradel was one of 11 children. As a youngster, he played short-stop on the Pennypack Athletic Association team. He was a member of the tennis team at Father Judge High School, where a teacher remembered him as “exuberant, effervescent.” He worked for Holme Cleaners, Welsh Road and Holme Avenue, after graduating in 1964, and was engaged to be married when he was drafted into the Marine Corps in January 1966. The 20-year-old corporal, a rifleman and squad leader, was assigned to Company M of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, in Vietnam. Gradel died on April 29, 1967, while on patrol at Trung Phan, near Da Nang, Quang Nam Province. He was survived by his parents, four brothers and six sisters.