Thomas Carson Griffin (July 10, 1916 – February 26, 2013) was a

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

navigator who served during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He was one of the eighty

Doolittle Raid The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first American air operation to strike the Japan ...

ers who bombed Japan in April 1942. After the Doolittle Raid, he was relocated to North Africa and was shot down during an air raid in 1943, spending time in a prisoner-of-war camp until he was rescued in early 1945.

Early life

Griffin was born on 1916 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In 1939, he graduated from the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.

Military career

On May 15, 1939, through the

Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (AROTC) is the United States Army component of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. It is the largest Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program which is a group of college and university-based offic ...

program at the University of Alabama, Griffin was commissioned a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the

Coast Artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of c ...

. From July 1939 to July 1940, he served with the 61st Coast Artillery before requesting relief from active duty in 1940 to enlist as a flying cadet in the

U.S. Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

. He was re-commissioned on July 1, 1940, and awarded his Navigator Wings on June 24, 1941. He was then assigned to the

17th Bombardment Group The 17th Bombardment Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. The group was last stationed at Hurlburt Field, Florida. The Group is a direct successor to the 17th Pursuit Group, one of the 15 original combat air groups formed by the ...

Pendleton, Oregon Pendleton is a city and the county seat of Umatilla County, Oregon. The population was 17,107 at the time of the 2020 census, which includes approximately 1,600 people who are incarcerated at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution. Pendleton ...

, which was equipped with the

North American B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in e ...

bombers.

World War II

Doolittle Raid

After the

Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, ju ...

on December 7, 1941, the 17th BG immediately began anti-submarine patrols off the coast of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. In February 1942, Griffin volunteered for a "secret mission", even though he did not know what duties were involved or any other details. This mission ended up being the critical Doolittle Raid, which was led by Lieutenant Colonel

Jimmy Doolittle James Harold Doolittle (December 14, 1896 – September 27, 1993) was an American military general and aviation pioneer who received the Medal of Honor for his daring raid on Japan during World War II. He also made early coast-to-coast flights ...

. The raid was daring not only because of the intended targets, the Japanese homeland, but because the pilots trained to take-off in a B-25 bomber from the deck of an aircraft carrier, something neither the designers of the B-25, nor the aircraft carrier, ever envisioned. Griffin was the navigator for ninth bomber, plane# 40-2303 nicknamed "Whirling Dervish", to depart the deck of the USS ''Hornet'' during the mission. On April 18, 1942, Griffin and his B-25's four crewmembers, took off from the ''Hornet'' and reached Tokyo, Japan. They bombed their target; Tokyo Gas and Electric Company building in the southern part of the city. They then headed for their recovery airfield in China. Running low on fuel due to the early launch of the raid, the B-25s failed to reach any of the designated safety zones in China. Griffin and his crew bailed out behind Japanese lines over the city of

Nanchang Nanchang (, ; ) is the capital of Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east ...

Jiangxi Province Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into hi ...

, China. The pilot of Griffin's bomber, First Lieutenant Harold F. Watson, was badly injured during the bail out and was carried to

Hengyang Hengyang (; ) is the second largest city of Hunan Province, China. It straddles the Xiang River about south of the provincial capital of Changsha. As of the 2020 Chinese census, Its total population was 6,645,243 inhabitants, whom 1,290,715 ...

in a porter by friendly Chinese civilians along with the bomber's crew. On April 30, after the crew made their way to

Chungking Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Counc ...

, Griffin, Doolittle and other bomber crew members were decorated by

Madame Chiang Kai-shek Soong Mei-ling (also spelled Soong May-ling, ; March 5, 1898 – October 23, 2003), also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek or Madame Chiang, was a Chinese political figure who was First Lady of the Republic of China, the wife of Generalissimo and ...

Post raid

After the raid, from April to August 1942, Griffin remained in China, where flew one additional combat mission with the 34th Bomb Squadron. He was later reassigned as a

B-26 Marauder The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in t ...

navigator with the

438th Bombardment Squadron 438th may refer to: *438th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group (438 AEAG), assigned to the 438th Air Expeditionary Wing of USAFCENT, stationed at Kabul Airport, Afghanistan *438th Air Expeditionary Group, provisional unit assigned to United States Air ...

of the 319th Bombardment Group. In September 1942, the unit was sent to England and later to

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. Griffin flew 19 missions in support of

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...

and in preparation for the

Allied invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It bega ...

. On July 4, 1943, his aircraft was shot down over Sicily and after bailing out, he was captured and taken prisoner by the Germans. He remained as a prisoner of war until April 1945, when his prison camp was liberated by Allied troops.

Later life

Charles Metcalf DESA ceremony-Neil Armstrong and Tom Griffin

Griffin was married to Esther Brooks (Jones) Griffin, who died in 2005, for 60 years. Thomas and Esther had two sons, and several grand and great-grandchildren. After the end of World War II, Griffin left active duty on February 22, 1946. He remained in the U.S. Air Force Reserves until April 1959. He moved to Cincinnati where he engaged in accounting business. Griffin joined the Doolittle Raiders Association, and attended every reunion except the final reunion, which was scheduled for April 2013, due to him dying in February 2013. Griffin died on February 26, 2013, in a Veteran Affairs nursing home in Cincinnati, at the age of 96. He was buried with full military honors at Hillside Chapel Crematory and Columbarium in Cincinnati. His death leaves just four surviving Doolittle Raiders.

Awards and decorations

References

External links

Thomas Carson Griffin, 0-377848, Major – Official Website of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Tom 1916 births 2013 deaths University of Alabama alumni Doolittle Raiders People from Green Bay, Wisconsin Military personnel from Wisconsin People from Cincinnati Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Recipients of the Air Medal United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany American prisoners of war in World War II United States Air Force reservists