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

From Tokyo to Berlin, WSU art graduate Ross Greening painted and wrote a one-of-kind record of action in WWII. Entering combat in April 1942, he piloted a B-25 in the Doolittle bombing raid on Japan and designed the special bomb-sight used during the mission.A year later Greening's plane was shot down over Italy's erupting Mt. Vesuvius. Held captive by Axis forces for eleven weeks, he escaped when Allied bombers blew up the prison train he was riding in. Although Italian villagers helped him evade recapture for more than six months, German soldiers eventually caught up with the American officer and two companions in their mountain cave hideaway. In a stalag in Barth, Germany, Greening continued sketching, painting, and writing about his own and other airmen's experiences. Near the war's end, the Allied prisoners seized control of the camp and Greening's invaluable items were safely brought out. Greening later recorded his story on Dictaphone and in writing, preserving a remarkably accurate telling of his WWII adventures. A compilation of these accounts, the narrative in Not as Briefed is riveting. Greening's observations on the nature of war are sensitive, moving, and deep-felt. When combined with photographs and his superb artwork, the result is a stunning visual and written record of WWII.

Table of Contents:
DEDICATION FOREWORD ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 1. EARLY YEARS 2. HOOKING UP WITH DOOLITTLE 3. ABOARD THE USS "HORNET'' 4. ATTACK ON JAPAN 5. NOT AS BRIEFED 6. NORTH AFRICAN OPERATIONS 7. IMPRISONED IN ITALY 8. POW TRAIN 9. ESCAPE 10. HIDING OUT 11. NURSED BACK TO HEALTH 12. THE NEW ZEALANDERS 13. RECAPTURE 14. STALAG LUFT 1 15. STARTING ART AGAIN 16. KRIEGIE KRAFT KARNIVAL 17. LIBERATION BY THE RUSSIANS 18. POW EXPOSITION 19. RETURN TO ITALY APPENDIX--BOB SMITH'S STORY SOURCES INDEX "THE BRAVE COLONEL

About the Author :
An art graduate, Ross Greening served as a B-25 pilot in the Northwest at the outbreak of WWII. In 1942, he participated in the famous Doolittle bombing raid on Japan and designed the special bomb-sight used during the mission. Fifteen months later Greening's plane was shot down over Italy's erupting Mt. Vesuvius, and he became a prisoner of war. He remained in the Air Force after the war and eventually became U.S. air attache to Australia and New Zealand. He died in 1957. Dorothy Greening, known as Dot, met her husband Ross Greening at a Theta Chi pledge party. They married in 1937. She spent a year listening to his Dictaphone recordings and transcribing the disks into a complete typed copy. Greening's niece, Karen Morgan Driscoll, came across her aunt's typed pages--a transcript of her uncle's World War II experiences--and was so fascinated by the account that she spent five years compiling the manuscript that became Not As Briefed. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota.

Review :
"Not as Briefed stands head and shoulders above the recent deluge of published World War II accounts." --Military Heritage Magazine "[Greening] was an outstanding military leader, a real war hero, an exceptional artist, a fine writer, an accomplished inventor and a dedicated family man." --Colonel John P. Doolittle, USAF Retired, son of General Jimmy Doolittle "[Greening] was the inventor of the famous "20-cent bombsight" used on this epic mission... the artist whose works were the basis for a post-war, nation-wide exhibition... He had an unusually interesting life." --Colonel Carroll V. Glines, author, The Doolittle Raid "Greening's...humanity comes through in the narrative. [His] artwork is...magnificent." --Stephen E. Balzarini, History Department, Gonzaga University "This is an incredible account of courage and resourcefulness that exemplifies the best of America's warriors." --Lt. General Harry E. Goldsworthy, USAF Retired