Not as Briefed: From the Doolittle Raid to a German Stalag

From the Doolittle Raid to a German Stalag

by Col. C. Ross Greening, compiled and edited by Dorothy Greening and Karen Morgan Driscoll; WSU Press, P.O. Box 645910, Pullman, WA 99164-5910; (800) 354-7360; 265 pages; numerous Greening color illustrations and historic b&w photographs; $42 plus S&H. Order from wsupress@-wsu.edu; ISBN: 0-87422-239-7; http://www.wsu.edu/wsupress.

In July 2001, Washington State University (WSU) Press published a masterpiece that can be described as the genesis of WW II USAAF bomber pilot history. To put it more succinctly, what had been deemed impossible to do has been achieved in these 265 pages. Tom Brokaw, in his excellent book "The Greatest Generation," could not interview the deceased military heroes; but here, you read personal accounts from Lt. Col. Charles Ross Greening's diary and logbook "Not as Briefed: From the Doolittle Raid to a German Stalag." If you have ever wondered about what happens to pilots and crew before and after their capture, Greening's WW II diary tells you, and he takes us even further: into the inner sanctums of aircrew souls.

The opening chapter deals with Ross's early life and his love of art and painting, and then he describes his stint with Jimmy Doolittle and his WW II "adventures." During the legendary April 1942 Doolittle Tokyo Raid, Greening piloted Hari Karier-the 11th B-25 to depart from the pitching flight deck of the USS Hornet. Following his crew's lowlevel, heart-pounding run over Tokyo and the China Sea, and now out of fuel, Greening's first bailout was at night, in heavy rain, over the Japanese-occupied part of China.

Ross and other B-25 Raiders next joined Doolittle in a B-26 unit in North Africa. This time, Ross was shot out of the sky. He bailed out over Germanoccupied Italy above the

Mt. Vesuvius crater rim. Here, he introduces us to the receiving end of the USAAF bombs that rained down all around him during the next few weeks.Greening's capture, interrogation, escape, recapture and his incredible six months on the lam in northern Italy are "painted" for us in his detailed notes, pencil sketches and watercolors.

When he was finally recaptured by the Germans and sent to Stalag Luft I outside Barth, Germany, he joined thousands of American POWs who included USAAF fighter pilots Hub Zemke and Francis Gabreski.

Greening shook off his bouts of depression by painting air battle scenes described by his fellow POW pilots. He used the most primitive materials: human hair became his brushes; colors were boiled out of tin-can labels and cigarette packages. With only those tools, he crafted paintings of air-combat history that are reprinted here.

Greening's diary exposes the many Stalag I intrigues as he and fellow POWs resisted their captors at every turn. Between digging escape tunnels, Ross and his fellow POWs organized a theater group of erstwhile actors. Their robust shows attracted even the admiration of their German captors. Ross, who had majored in fine arts at WSU before joining USAAF in the 1930s, organized a crafts program that measurably helped to uplift the camp morale. Materials came from the prisoners' bunk beds, any piece of scrap metal, or whatever else they could bribe from their guards. His book also reveals Hitler's decree to kill all POWs.

After the War, sympathetic Italians who had helped Ross before his final capture and had hidden his diary, returned it to him. It is a treasure trove for all of us to cherish. Thanks to the grit of his widow, sons and devoted niece and skilled writer Karen Driscoll, along with help from other family members and Doolittle Raider survivors, Ross's voice comes alive for all those lost in mortal combat. This terrific book is filled with incredible firstperson accounts of what it was like to be shot down and taken prisoner. I highly recommend it to all.

-William. J. O'Dwyer, Maj. USAF Res. (Ret.)

Copyright Air Age Publishing Dec 2001
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