Page 2 - September 19, 2013 ‘Operation Griffin’ Cont. from Page 1
ing ‘Please God don’t let them hit the engine, don’t hit the engine!” The shredded Helldiver barely made it back to the carrier with no hydraulics, brakes or flaps. “My plane captain counted eighty-three holes in the plane. But the real shock was when he looked at my parachute harness.” Griff shook his head. “The squadron Intelligence Officer took me up to see Admiral Marc Mitscher,” Griff said. “When he saw the harness. Mitscher asked, "What is this?’” “That’s where a bullet went across Mr. Griffin’s back, Admiral.” was the laconic reply. The twin shoulder strap padding bore a deep lateral tear from a Japanese bullet.
In November the Lex became a target for what may have been one of the first Kamikaze attacks on the U.S. fleet. A pair of Mitsubishi A6M Zeros showed the Americans a preview of what was to come. “On 5 November 1944 we were
Give Us This Day Our Daily Chuckle This week, a compendium of wit, wisdom and neat stuff you can tell at parties. Enjoy!
Out of the Mouths of Babes
While I sat in the reception area of my doctor's office, a woman rolled an elderly man in a wheelchair into the room. As she went to the receptionist's desk, the man sat there, alone and silent. Just as I was thinking I should make small talk with him, a little boy slipped off his mother's lap and walked over to the wheelchair. Placing his hand on the man's, he said, “I know how you feel. My Mom makes me ride in the stroller too.” ••••• As I was nursing my baby, my cousin's six-year-old daughter, Krissy, came into the room. Never having seen anyone breast feed before, she was intrigued and full of all kinds of questions about what I was doing. After mulling over my answers, she remarked, “My mom has some of those, but I
in our Ready Room. ‘Battle stations! Bogies coming in!’ Some of my squadron mates went up on the aft Navigation Bridge to watch the action,” Griff said with deep emotion. “I was late and only got as far as the port Flight Deck catwalk with a ham sandwich in my hand.”
He related the experience. “I saw that second plane coming in, and I mean every single gun in the fleet was hammering away at it. The plane slammed into the superstructure right where my buddies were watching. Our squadron steward had taken his time making that sandwich and that saved my life.” Six of VB-19s pilots were killed when the burning Zero struck the ship.
It’s a fair bet to say Griff has led a charmed life in combat. “I returned to the states in December 1944,” he said. “Married my wife and raised four daughters. I retired from the Navy in 1965 with the rank of Captain.” “When the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum opened in San Diego in 1992 I
don't think she knows how to use them.” ••••• Out bicycling one day with my eight-year-old granddaughter, Carolyn, I got a little wistful. “In ten years,” I said, “you'll want to be with your friends and you won't go walking, biking, and swimming with me like you do now.”
Carolyn shrugged. “In ten years you'll be too old to do all those things anyway.” ••••• Working as a pediatric nurse, I had the difficult assignment of giving immunization shots to children. One day, I entered the examining room to give four-year-old Lizzie her injection. “No, no, no!” she screamed.
“Lizzie,” scolded her mother, "that's not polite behavior.”
With that, the girl yelled even louder, “No, thank you! No, thank you!" ••••• On the way back from a Cub Scout meeting, my grandson innocently said to my son, “Dad, I know babies come frommommie's tummies, but how do they get there in the first place?”
After my son hemmed and hawed awhile, my grandson finally spoke up in disgust, “You don't have to make up something, Dad. It’s okay if you don’t know the answer.”
began volunteering. I enjoyed being next to the restored SBD Dauntless. I get a real kick out of telling kids what it was like during the war.” I first med Griff in the spring of 2010 on board the Midway when researching the techniques of dive bombing.
Griff at 89 still has a sharp memory for details. I found him to be a fascinating wealth of information and stories. We met several times at his home. My assistant and fellow aviation buff, Linda Stull drove me to the interviews and we became close friends with the venerable aviator. I wrote an article about Griff’s wartime experiences for a national magazine.
It was during lunch at a Chula Vista Chinese restaurant when I casually asked Griff, “Out of all the planes you flew what was your favorite?”
Having known Griff’s enthusiasm for the F4U Corsair, which he’d flown in 1945 I was pretty sure of the answer. Yet the old veteran surprised me. ‘The Stearman,” he said firm-
Just before I was deployed to Iraq, I sat my eight-year-old son down and broke the news to him. “I’m going to be away for a long time,” I told him. “I’m going to Iraq.”
“Why?” he asked. “Don't you know there’s a war going on over there?” ••••• Paul Newman founded the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for children stricken with cancer, AIDS, and blood diseases. One afternoon, he and his wife, Joanne Woodward, stopped by to have lunch with the kids. A counselor at a nearby table, suspecting the young patients wouldn’t know Newman was a famous movie star, explained, “That’s the man who made this camp possible. Maybe you’ve seen his picture on his salad dressing bottle?” Blank stares.
“Well, you’ve probably seen his face on his lemonade carton.” An eight-year-old girl perked up. “How long was he missing?” ••••• God’s Problem Now!
His wife's graveside service was just barely finished when there was a massive clap of thunder, followed by a tremendous bolt of lightning, accompanied by even more thunder rumbling in the distance. The little, old man looked at the pastor and calmly said, "Well, she’s there."
ly. “That was the most fun to fly. I’ve got almost five thousand hours in all kinds of planes but there’s nothing like the feeling of being in an open cockpit and hearing the wind in the wires. Nothing like it.” I then asked him if he’d flown in one since the war. Griff said he hadn't been in a Stearman since 1942. “I’d love to fly in one again,” He said wistfully. “Just once more.” And thus were planted the seeds for Operation Griffin.
With my contacts in the local military aviation community, I called Col. Bob Simon, the Wing Commander of Air Group One of the Commemorative Air Force. The San Diego Chapter has a hangar out at Gillespie Field in El Cajon. Simon, a former American Airlines pilot owns a beautiful Stearman named after his wife, d’Marie. Painted a stunning Santa Fe red with silver wings, the polished biplane won the prestigious Antique Bronze Lindy Award at Oshkosh in 2005.
‘Operation Griffin’ Cont. on Page 3
Retiring to Florida
A few years ago, my wife and I moved into a retirement development on Florida's southeast coast. We are living in the "Delray/Boca/Boynton Golf, Spa, Bath and Tennis Club on Lake Fake-a-Hachee". There are 3,000 lakes in Florida ; only three are real.
Our biggest retirement concern was time management. What were we going to do all day? Let me assure you, passing the time is not a problem. Our days are eaten up by simple, daily activities. Just getting out of our car takes 15 minutes. Trying to find where we parked takes 20 minutes. It takes a half-hour in the checkout line in Wal-Mart, and 1 hour to return the item the next day.
Let me take you through a typical day: We get up at 5:00 am, have a quick breakfast and join the early morning Walk-andFart Club. There are about 30 of us, and rain or shine, we walk around the streets, all talking at once. Every development has some late risers who stay in bed until 6:00 am. After a nimble walk, avoiding irate drivers out to make us road kill, we go back home, shower and change for the next activity.
‘Chuckles’ Cont. on Page 6