Charles Ross Greening

Colonel Charles Ross Greening (November 12, 1914 – March 29, 1957) was an accomplished pilot and artist. He was one of the 73 men out of the 80 Doolittle Raiders to survive the attack and return home to his family.

Early years; education[]

Charles Ross Greening was born on November 12, 1914 in Carroll, Iowa, to Charles W and Olive Jewell (née Ross) Greening.^[1] He took his first plane ride in June 1921. After his father's bank failed, the family moved to Tacoma, Washington in 1925.^[2][3]

Greening received a bachelor's degree from Washington State College of Fine Arts in 1936, minoring in physical education and military science, and serving as the ROTC commandant.^[3] He entered the military on June 23, 1936 at Fort Lewis, Washington.

On 9 June 1937, Greening graduated from the Air Corps Flying School at Randolph Field. He was then assigned to the 20th Pursuit Group at Barksdale Field, flying Curtiss P-6 Hawks and Boeing P-26 Peashooters.^[3]:3

Shortly after arriving at his first duty station, Greening took leave to marry his college sweetheart, Dorothy "Dot" Watson (1912-2003).^[2] They were married on 11 November 1937. They had two children together, both boys, Allen and Chuck.^{[3]:XII, 3–4}

In 1938, he was assigned to Hamilton Army Airfield and the 7th Bombardment Group. Then in 1940, Greening volunteered to open McChord Field, where he flew the Douglas B-23 Dragon, and then the B-25 in the 17th Bombardment Group. Then in 1941, his unit was assigned to Pendleton Field, where they patrolled the Oregon Coast for Japanese submarines after the start of WWII. They then transferred back to McChord, and then onwards to Columbia, South Carolina, where Greening volunteered to help with the B-25 armament for Doolittle's upcoming secret and hazardous mission. Greening joined the Doolittle group at Eglin Field. Greening eventually took over the role of pilot for plane #40-2249, with Kenneth Reddy as co-pilot, Frank Kappeler as navigator, Melvin Gardner as engineer-gunner, and William Birch as bombardier-gunner.^{[3]:4–12, 36}

World War II[]

The Norden bombsight was ineffective for the low-level bombing planned for the Doolittle raid. Instead, Greening designed a "Mark Twain" bombsight out of Duralumin, in reference to the lead line used by Mississippi River paddle wheelers. It consisted of a quadrangle measuring 7 inches (18 cm) by 7 inches (18 cm), inscribed with a 90° arc in 10° increments, and placed horizontally on the Norden mount. When the quadrangle was turned turned left or right, a handle deflected the Pilot direction indicator, indicating the prescribed heading for the pilot. A vertical piece, measuring 5.25 inches (13.3 cm) by 7.25 inches (18.4 cm), set the dropping angle, based on bomb size, altitude, wind conditions, and ground speed. The vertical piece had a sighting bar with a "V" notch at the rear, which was to be aligned with a point at the front, just as in a rifle sight. The bombardier aimed the bombsight in the direction of the target, raising the tail as he got closer, until he reached the dropping angle, when he would release the bombs.^{[3]:14–15, 28}

On 18 April 1942, then Captain Greening, piloting the Hari Kari-er, a B-25B Mitchell medium bomber equipped with the "Mark Twain" bombsight he designed, launched from the United States Navy's aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8), in the Doolittle Raid of Japan. He led a flight of three aircraft aiming to bomb oil refineries, docks, warehouses and industrial areas of Yokohama. However, due to faulty compass alignment, most of the planes arrived over Japan about 60 miles (97 km) north of their intention. As a consequence, Greening ended up bombing a Sakura refinery east of Tokyo. Gardner was able to shoot down two of four Japanese fighters that attacked them, while Greening attacked several patrol boats in Tokyo harbor. After reaching China in the area northeast of Quzhou, they were running out of fuel, and were forced to bail out, abandoning their aircraft.^[4] The crews eventually reunited on the ground, and with Chinese assistance, finally made it to Chongqing on 29 April. There, all of the raiders were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by General and Colonel John Magruder and Clayton Lawrence Bissell, and personally thanked by Chiang Kai-shek and his wife, Madame Chiang Kai-shek. On 4 May, the raiders made it to Dinjon, India.^[3]:27–45

After he returned to the United States in June, Greening trained in the Martin B-26 Marauder, made Group Commander within the 17th Bombardment Group, and promoted to Lt. Col. He was assigned to Telergma in North Africa, and flew 27 missions before being shot down over Naples on July 17, 1943 and taken prisoner.^[2] After taking a direect hit to his right engine, Greening ordered his crew to bail out. On the descent, Greening suffered a bullet wound near his knee, a dislocated hip, and two sprained ankles, besides barely missing landing in the crater of Mount Vesuvius. While a captive of the Italians, Greening drew his captor's portraits, both to occupy his time, and to get better food and treatment for himself and his men. Greening ended up in the Chieti POW camp. After Italy capitulated on 8 September 1943, German troops took over the camp on 23 September, and plans were made to move the POWs to Germany. Greening escaped from the prisoner transport train on 3 October 1943, during an air raid on Bolzano.^{[3]:49–50, 57, 60, 68–69, 79–86, 103–108}

He evaded capture until early 1944, after which he was held at the Stalag Luft I POW camp for the duration of the war.

After the war, he continued on active duty in the Air Force until he died of an infection on March 29, 1957,^[2] at the Bethesda Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland.

Legacy[]

Greening wrote and painted pictures from his life and experience during the war. After he died in 1957, his wife Dorothy gathered his notes and pictures and, with the help of his sister, Shirley Greening Morgan, and her daughter (his niece), Karen Morgan Driscoll, published his memoir, Not as Briefed: From the Doolittle Raid to a German Stalag.

References[]

• Archbold, Mike (April 20, 2008). "WWII hero hailed from Tacoma". The News Tribune. Archived from the original on 2013-06-30. Retrieved 7 June 2013.