Not as Briefed from the Doolittle Raid to a German Stalag

Colonel C. Ross Greening

Compiled and edited by Dorothy Greening and Karen Morgan Driscoll

WSU art graduate Ross Greening was serving as a B-25 pilot in the Northwest at the outbreak of WWII. In 1942, he participated in the famous Doolittle bombing raid over Tokyo, which started a chain of events altering the course of the Pacific war. Greening designed the special bomb-sight used during the mission and later painted a one-of-a-kind record of the attack.

Greening next was assigned to the North African theater. His luck ran out in July 1943 when Axis gunners shot his plane down over Italy's erupting Mt. Vesuvius. After capture and then escaping during an Allied-bombing raid, Greening evaded recapture for more than six months in northern Italy. German soldiers who had been tipped off about Greening's hidaway in a high mountain cave eventually seized him and two companions.

In a German Stalag, Greening was one of the ranking allied camp commanders. He continued to make an amazing pictorial record of the war - of his own experiences and those of dozens of other prisoners who related their accounts to him. near the war's end, Allied prisoners seized control of the camp before the Russian army overran it. Greening's invaluable watercolors, sketches, diary and other items, a good portion of which had been hidden from the Germans, were safely brought out.

After the war, Greening became a prominent spokesman for American prisoners of war by directing a national POW exposition tour. Remaining in the Air Force, he eventually became U.S. air attache` to Australia and New Zealand. Greening recorded his experiences on reel to reel tapes and in written form, preserving a remarkably accurate telling of his WWII adventures.

"Greenings narrative is crisp and compelling. He speaks to the nature of war as he understands it, the character of good and evil, and the American purpose in fighting fascism. He also expresses his fears, loneliness, and uncertainties, while seeing the best in his Allied comrades. That quality - his humanity - comes through in the narraive. Colonel Greening's artwork is...magnificent."

Stephen E. Balzarini, History Department, Gonzaga University

In recent years, Greening's niece and widow compiled his memoirs. his sensitive observations on the cruelty and injustices of war are moving and deep felt. His innate courage and resourcefulness were admirbale, as were his astute assessment of the evils of fascism and the measures neccessary to prevent threats to world peace.

More than one Doolittle veteran has said "Ross Greening was the best one of us!"

The book is offered now in a soft back version, and the price as of January 2008 was $35.00 plus shipping and handling. You can order the book and get more details by contacting Karen Driscoll at mailto:plumwild@olypen.com