World War II Honoree

Charles Emmett Griffin

Branch of Service

U.S. Army

Hometown

Pendelton, Oregon

Honored By

Patrick Harrington

Relationship

Grandson

European Theater of Operations; served from September 1944 to VE Day 1945 with The U.S. Army, 2nd Infantry Division, 9th Regiment, 1 Battalion under the command of Lt. Col. William Dawes McKinley. Lead scout, 1st platoon, Company A. Pacific Theater of Operations; served july 1945 TO JANUARY 1946 with the 399th Engineer Depot Company. Rhineland, Ardennes, Central Europe and the Philippine Islands. Earned the Combat Infantryman Badge, American campaign medal, Sharp Shooter badge (M1 rifle), Luxembourg Croix De Guerre, Belgian Fourragère (1940), 3 Presidential Unit Citations (Brest, Siegfried Line, Lausdell), European-African-Middle Eastern campaign Medal, Bronze Star, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, Philippine Liberation Medal, WWII Victory Medal and Good Conduct Medal. In 1984 he was awarded the Prisoner of War medal for his time as a Prisoner in German occupied Prussia. He escaped the prison camp, walked back across Prussia and Germany and returned to his unit in February 1945.