The extended family of a fallen World War II hero gathered in Colorado Springs last week to thank a group of high school students for honoring their family member, and to workshop strategies for broadening local knowledge about him.

Navy Aviation Machinist Mate First Class Daniel T. Griffin, acknowledged as the first Coloradan – and perhaps the first American – to die in the attack that brought the U.S. into World War II, was well represented last week. Griffin’s son, Donald, and several of his grandchildren traveled to Colorado Springs from Oregon, Virginia, Texas, Arkansas, California and Washington to share stories about a man none of them knew in life.

“My father was little when Daniel was killed, so obviously I never got to know him,” said Dave Griffin, Daniel’s grandson. “But his story is so fascinating, we feel that all of Colorado Springs should know about their hometown boy.”

A 1928 graduate of Colorado Springs High School (now Palmer High School), Daniel T. Griffin enlisted in the Navy in 1930 at age 19. In 1938, he graduated from flight school with a Patrol Bomber pilot’s license. He was transferred to Kaneohe Bay on Oahu — the same Hawaiian island as Pearl Harbor — in March 1941.

“What a lot of people don’t know is that, on Dec. 7, 1941, the attack didn’t start in Pearl Harbor,” Dave Griffin said.

Petty Officer 1st Class Griffin was standing watch that morning and was reportedly one of the first service members to alert others of the impending attack. He swam out to his plane, which sat in the waters of the bay, to try to save it. But as he took off, the plane was strafed by machine gun fire and crashed.

Alive but badly burned, Griffin tried to swim to shore, but was shot and killed by enemy planes. 

Griffin’s body, which was recovered five days after the attack, remained interred in Hawaii from 1941-1947, according to multiple reports. He was eventually moved to Colorado Springs, where he is interred at Evergreen Cemetery.

Griffin was posthumously cited for acting courageously and with “utter disregard of personal danger. USS Daniel T. Griffin, a destroyer escort, was commissioned in his honor in 1943.

But according to Dave Griffin, “from 1947 to 2015, nobody in Colorado Springs really knew anything about him.”

In 2015, Bill Thomas, then an archivist for the Pikes Peak Library District, was looking through the library system’s archives when he discovered a treasure trove of information about a fallen World War II sailor from Colorado Springs.

“Ralph Carr, who was the governor of Colorado at the time, declared that Petty Officer Griffin was the first person from Colorado who was killed in World War II, and quite likely – very likely – the first American killed,” said Thomas, a retired Army Chief Warrant Officer.

A meticulous historian, Thomas is careful to say that he cannot definitively prove that Griffin was the first American killed in the attack. (“In the fog of war, who knows exactly?” he said.) But he realized he had unearthed a piece of Colorado Springs history.

“I thought to myself, ‘Why don’t I know this?’” he said. “Why isn’t this part of the history of our community?”

After more research, Thomas reached out to retired Capt. Greg Thomas (no relation), who heads the Doherty High School Naval Junior ROTC.

“To be honest, if anyone deserves credit for preserving Daniel Griffin’s legacy in Colorado Springs, it’s Capt. Thomas,” Bill Thomas said.

As a result of Greg Thomas’ efforts, Oct. 6 – the day Griffin enlisted in the Navy – has been designated Daniel T. Griffin Day for Colorado Springs School District 11. The fallen sailor is prominently featured in the school’s Hall of Honor, a large, two-wall mural celebrating the wartime contributions of several service members from Colorado Springs. Thomas’ NJROTC cadets visit Griffin’s gravesite three time a year, he said.

“We love what these kids have done, and continue to do, to honor my grandfather,” Dave Griffin said. “But it’s mostly restricted to the district. We think it would be awesome if more people throughout the city knew his story.”

That was part of the reason for the Griffin family’s visit to Colorado Springs. The other reason was to thank the Doherty cadets for their efforts to keep Daniel T. Griffin’s legacy alive.

“They are great kids,” Dave Griffin said. “They seemed really engaged, and they’re dedicated to carrying our grandfather’s story forward.”

The Griffin family hopes to commission a project that will disseminate Daniel’s story more widely. While in Colorado Springs, they discussed the possibility of a statue outside Palmer High School, or the naming of a bridge.

“This is a military town,” said El Paso County Commissioner Stan VanderWerf, who spearheaded the effort to name a bridge after USS Arizona survivor Donald G. Stratton.

“If we can do something to increase the broader knowledge about Daniel Griffin, I think the Colorado Springs community would embrace it.”

Australian-born mural artist Kim Polomka, who painted the Doherty Hall of Honor, said he is in favor of painting a Daniel T. Griffin mural.

“I think this gentleman would be awesome to do in a mural,” Polomka said. “A bridge would be nice, but it doesn’t have the same visual effect. A statue doesn’t catch the eye in the same way.”

The family has not yet come to a consensus on the project, but Dave Griffin said he was encouraged by the visit.

“This is a great story that should be shared widely,” he said. “After this visit, I feel like it will be.”

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