Oral History Interview with Thomas C. Griffin, August 24, 2005

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Thomas C. Griffin. Griffin was commissioned a lieutenant in the Coast Artillery through the Army ROTC program at the University of Alabama in 1939. Griffin served with the 61st Coast Artillery from July 1939 to July 1940, when he became an Aviation Cadet with the Army Air Corps. He was re-commissioned and awarded his Navigator Wings in June 1941. Griffin volunteered for the Doolittle Raid and was the navigator on the ninth B-25 to take off. After bombing their assigned targets in Tokyo, the crew bailed out over China when their aircraft ran out of fuel. Griffin remained in China and served with the 34th Bomb Squadron from April to August 1942, where he flew 1 additional combat mission. He next joined the 438th Bomb Squadron of the 319th Bomb Group, flying the B-26 Marauder, and left for England in September 1942. Griffin flew 19 combat missions in North Africa before being shot down and taken as a prisoner of war of Germany in July 1943. He was placed in Stalag Luft III. He was released in late April 1945, and left active duty the following February. Griffin remained in the Air Force Reserve after the war, and retired in April 1959