Griffith Williams was one of the 80 airmen who, under the leadership of Jimmy Doolittle, disembarked from the U.S.S. Hornet in the first bombing raid over Tokyo in World War II. Following the raid Lieutenant Williams was assigned to the 12th Air Force in North Africa where he flew combat missions until July 4, 1943, when he was shot down and interned as a Prisoner of War of the Germans.