Griff and the Angel – Luck rides with a Helldiver pilot

Guam. Saipan. The Marianas Campaign. The Philippine Sea. Names that have long stirred memories, emotions and visions of endless ranks of advancing gray warships, blue-painted aircraft screaming from the sky raining death and the terrifying new enemy called “kamikaze.” One account of the legendary battles during the summer and fall of 1944 is related by a Navy dive-bomber pilot, Capt. Wallace S. “Griff” Griffin. The story of his early experiences in flying, training and combat...