Albert Ullmann was born on August 12, 1921, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve on May 2, 1939, and went on active duty beginning September 18, 1940. After completing basic training at NTS Newport, Rhode Island, AS Ullmann served aboard the light cruiser USS Nashville (CL-43) from November 1940 to November 1941, and then attended Submarine School at New London, Connecticut, from November 1941 to January 1942. Sea1c Ullmann joined the crew of the submarine USS Grunion (SS-216) during her fitting out in January 1942, remained aboard through her commissioning in April 1942, and was killed in action during a confrontation with the armed Japanese freighter Kano Maru on July 30, 1942. On August 22, 2007, a search team organized by the three sons of CDR Mannert Abele (the Captain of the Grunion when she was sunk) used a remotely operated vehicle to find a sunken vessel 3,000 feet down in the Bering Sea north of Kiska Island at the tip of the Aleutian Islands. On October 1, 2008, the U.S. Navy announced that the sunken vessel is the World War II submarine USS Grunion (SS-216).

His Navy Commendation Medal Citation reads:

For meritorious conduct as a member of the crew of the U.S.S. GRUNION which destroyed three enemy destroyers while engaged in a war patrol in enemy controlled waters. Despite severe and persistent anti-submarine measures resulting from these three successful attacks, the GRUNION was brought safely through the counter attacks and continued an aggressive war patrol. As a member of the crew of the GRUNION, your performance of duty was an important and material contribution to the prosecution of this war.