Thousands honor Doolittle Raider in Green TownshipOn a beautiful sunny Saturday they kept coming – family, friends, neighbors, strangers, war veterans, political leaders and a war hero.
By the time the clock tower struck high noon and the bell tolled, about 2,000 people had gathered around Patriotic Plaza at Green Township Veterans Park to celebrate the life of World War II hero Tom Griffin.
The turnout surprised and overwhelmed Griffin’s family.
“We would’ve had a hard time convincing dad it was all for him,” said Gary Griffin, Tom’s youngest son. “He was such a humble man. He didn’t think he deserved this kind of attention.”
Tom Griffin, one of the last five remaining Doolittle Raiders who bombed Tokyo in a daytime sneak attack, died Feb. 26. The longtime Green Township resident was 96.
Griffin kept quiet for almost four decades about navigating one of 16 B-25 bombers from an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to launch the attack on Japan during the early days of the war.
The attack on April 18, 1942, made history – no land-based bomber had ever taken off from an aircraft carrier in combat.
The 80 Doolittle Raiders helped to boost American morale four months after Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
In 1977, Griffin’s accomplishment became known publicly. Gary Griffin, who lives in Los Angeles, had been hired to play keyboards for the Beach Boys, and he told the media about his dad’s accomplishment. After that, Tom Griffin shared his story at schools, hospitals and community events.
The ceremony Saturday was a time for many to brag about Griffin as a war hero and loving husband and father.
American flags posted around the plaza flapped in the wind on a 53-degree afternoon as Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune, U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, Griffin’s sons, John and Gary, and friends lauded Griffin, who also spent 22 months in a German prison camp during the war.
“Tom cringed at the word ‘hero,’ ” Chabot said. “May we all strive to live a fraction of the life Tom lived.”
Family members shared for the first time publicly about all the famous people Griffin met in the years after his famous feat. Griffin, who later opened an accounting office in Cheviot, had shaken hands with Dwight D. Eisenhower, Winston Churchill, George S. Patton, Harry S. Truman, Bob Hope, George H.W. Bush and Neil Armstrong.
“And I have one more,” Griffin’s daughter-in-law, Vicki, told the crowd. “The hand of his dear (late) wife, Esther, of over 60 years.”
Tears welled in eyes throughout the crowd. Some smiled. Some well-wishers had to arrive by shuttle bus because they had to park several blocks down Harrison Avenue. Attendees stood several rows deep, almost to the edge of Harrison.
Walter Schneider and his girlfriend, Kathy Bratcher, both of Green Township, stood holding a laminated poster of a Cincinnati Post article written several years ago about Griffin. He had autographed the article for Schneider.
“I grew up reading about him,” Schneider said. “He was about self-sacrifice.”
Perhaps the most touching tribute came in the closing moments of the one-hour and 15-minute ceremony. The crowd stood silently, staring into the mostly cloudless sky during a B-25 flyover. The plane flew in from the south and nearly disappeared on the eastern horizon.
Applause.A minute later, the B-25 came roaring back from the east and disappeared into the west.
Applause.The Emerald Society Pipes and Drums began playing “God Bless America.” As the bagpipes played, 97-year-old Doolittle Raider Dick Cole rose from his front-row seat and slowly walked up to Griffin’s casket.
Cole, the Dayton, Ohio, native who was Gen. Jimmy Doolittle’s co-pilot, stood silently for several seconds. Cole then saluted his old friend.
“What a proud day,” retired Cincinnati police officer Joe Hall of Bridgetown said as he hugged a friend in the crowd.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2013 ... n-Township A B-25 flyover occurs during a memorial service for Maj. Tom Griffin, who was one of the last five remaining Doolittle Raiders who bombed Tokyo during World War II, at the Green Township Veterans Park on Saturday, Mar. 9, 2013. Griffin died Feb. 26. He was 96.
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