Samuel Grashio

{{Infobox military person

|name= Samuel Charles Grashio

|birth_date= {{birth date|1918|04|01}}

|death_date= {{death date and age|1999|10|03|1918|04|01}}

|birth_place= Spokane, Washington, U.S.

|death_place= Spokane, Washington, U.S.

|placeofburial= Holy Cross Cemetery
Spokane, Washington

|image= Grashio-mug.jpg

|image_size =

|caption=

|allegiance= United States

|branch=U.S. Army Air Corps
U.S. Army Air Forces
U.S Air Force

|serviceyears= 1940–1965

|rank= Colonel

|commands=

|unit= 21st Pursuit Squadron
24th Pursuit Group

|battles=World War II
{{*}} Battle of Bataan

|awards= Distinguished Service Cross
Silver Star (2)
Bronze Star Medal

|relations= Devonia Grashio (wife)

}}

Samuel Charles Grashio (April 1, 1918 – October 3, 1999) was a United States Army Air Forces pilot who was captured by the Japanese in World War II. He survived the Bataan Death March and participated in the only successful mass escape from a Japanese prison camp.{{Cite web |last=John L. Frisbee |date=July 1995 |title=Valor: Death March |url=http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/1995/July%201995/0795valor.aspx |access-date=May 29, 2017 |publisher=airforce-magazine.com (online journal of the Air Force Association)}}

Grashio was born and raised in Spokane, Washington.{{Cite web |title=Too Little, Too Late |url=http://www.militaryartgallery.com/HTML_2/too_little_too_late.htm |access-date=January 24, 2011 |publisher=militaryartgallery.com}} He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in September 1940. After training, he was sent to the Philippines, arriving in Manila on November 20, 1941, to join the 24th Pursuit Group's 21st Pursuit Squadron as a second lieutenant.

World War II

On December 8, the same day as the attack on Pearl Harbor (on the other side of the International Date Line), he flew from Nichols Field to engage in aerial combat against the Japanese in his Curtis P-40E fighter airplane.{{Cite book |last=Bartsch |first=William H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r8PutH7_T2gC&q=Samuel+Grashio&pg=PA375 |title=December 8, 1941: McArthur's Pearl Harbor |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |year=2003 |isbn=1-58544-246-1 |page=375 |access-date=January 24, 2011}} Along with the rest of the 24th Group, he ended up at Bataan, where he flew the last combat mission on April 8, 1942. The Battle of Bataan ended the next day with an Allied surrender.

Grashio joined the other prisoners of war in the infamous Bataan Death March. He was imprisoned first at Camp O'Donnell, north of Manila. Two months later, he was transferred to a camp at Cabanatuan. Finally, in October, he was among 1000 prisoners judged fit to work; they were moved to a lumber camp on Mindanao (Davao Region) to engage in manual labor.

Grashio and his squadron commander, Lieutenant Ed Dyess, eight other Americans, including Austin Shofner,Dyess, W.E., 1944, The Dyess Story, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons{{rp|166}} and two Filipinos escaped into the jungle on Sunday, April 4, 1943.{{Cite book |last=Levine |first=Alan J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GstzfO4QN30C&q=Samuel+Grashio&pg=PA156 |title=Captivity, Flight, and Survival in World War II |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2000 |isbn=0-275-96955-X |page=156}} One of the other Americans was USMC Lt. Jack Hawkins, who had organized the escape.{{Cite book |last=Hawkins |first=Jack L. |title=Never Say Die |publisher=Dorrance & Company |year=1961 |page=56}} After wandering for three days in the swamp, they contacted a band of Filipino guerrillas. They then joined the Mindanao guerrillas under the command of Lt. Col. Wendell Fertig. Over the course of the next few months, seven of the men were transported a few at a time by submarine to Australia while three stayed behind to continue fighting with the guerrillas. One of these, an Army Air Corps engineering officer named Leo Boelens, was eventually killed by the Japanese.{{Cite book |last=Grashio |first=Samuel C. |title=Return to Freedom |publisher=University Press |year=1982 |pages=264}} Grashio and Luis Morgan escaped to Australia via submarine.{{cite book | last = Lapham | first = R. | last2 = Norling | first2 = B. | year = 1996 | title = Lapham's Raiders | location = Lexington | publisher = The University Press of Kentucky | isbn = 0813119499}}{{rp|110}}

Grashio was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Silver Star with cluster during the war.

Later life

He rose to the rank of colonel before retiring in 1965. He then became the assistant to the President of Gonzaga University in Spokane.

He co-authored Return to Freedom: The War Memoirs of Colonel Samuel C. Grashio U.S.A.F. (1982, {{ISBN|0-912958-20-0}}) with Bernard Norling.

Grashio died in 1999. He was survived by his wife Devonia Grashio.{{Cite news |first=Jennifer | last = Larue |date=July 17, 2010 |title=92-year-old woman paints from the heart |work=The Spokesman-Review |url=http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/jul/17/92-year-old-woman-paints-from-the-heart/}}

She died in 2015. They had six children: daughters Patricia Ohlidal (deceased), Marilyn (Jim) Cline of Yakima, Judith Dawson, Mary Elizabeth Grashio, Celene (Tony) Riccelli and son Samuel (Laurie) Grashio, all of Spokane.{{Cite news |date=April 14, 2015 |title=Obituary: Grashio, Devonia 'Dee' |work=The Spokesman-Review |url=http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/apr/14/obituary-grashio-devonia-dee/}}

Awards and decorations

style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"

|colspan="4"|200px

colspan="4"|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=Distinguished Service Cross ribbon.svg|width=110|alt=A multicolored military ribbon. From left to right the color pattern is: thin red stripe, thick blue stripe, thick white stripe, thin red stripe.}} {{Ribbon devices|number=1|type=oak|ribbon=Silver Star ribbon.svg|width=110}}

{{Ribbon devices|number=|type=oak|other_device=|ribbon=Bronze_Star_Medal_ribbon.svg|width=110}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=|other_device=|ribbon=Prisoner of War Medal.svg|width=110}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=|type=|ribbon=AF Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon.png|width=110}}

{{Ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=American Defense Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=110|alt=}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=|type=service-star|ribbon=American Campaign Medal ribbon.svg|width=110|alt=}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=3|type=service-star|ribbon=Asiatic-Pacific Campaign ribbon.svg|width=110|alt=}}

{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=World War II Victory Medal ribbon.svg|width=110|alt=}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=Army_of_Occupation_ribbon.svg|width=110}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=National Defense Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=110|alt=}}

{{Ribbon devices|number=5|type=oak|ribbon=Air Force Longevity Service ribbon.svg|width=110}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=|type=oak|ribbon=Philippine_Defense_ribbon.png|width=110}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=Presidential_Unit_Citation_(Philippines).svg|width=110|alt=}}

class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"

colspan="12"|Command Pilot

colspan="6"| Distinguished Service Cross

|colspan="6"| Silver Star
with bronze oak leaf cluster

colspan="4"|Bronze Star Medal

|colspan="4"|Prisoner of War Medal

|colspan="4"|Air Force Presidential Unit Citation

colspan="4"|American Defense Service Medal
with bronze service star

|colspan="4"|American Campaign Medal

|colspan="4"|Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
with three bronze campaign stars

colspan="4"|World War II Victory Medal

|colspan="4"|Army of Occupation Medal

|colspan="4"|National Defense Service Medal
with bronze service star

colspan="4"|Air Force Longevity Service Award
with silver oak leaf cluster

|colspan="4"|Philippine Defense Medal

|colspan="4"|Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation

=Distinguished Service Cross citation =

File:Army distinguished service cross medal.png

:Grashio, Samuel C.

:Second Lieutenant (Air Corps), U.S. Army Air Forces

:Philippine Guerilla Forces

:Date of Action: April 4, 1943 to October 12, 1943

:Citation:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Second Lieutenant (Air Corps) Samuel Charles Grashio, United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with Philippine Guerilla Forces during the period 4 April 1943 through 12 October 1943. Second Lieutenant Grashio was one of ten men including two Naval Officers, three Air Corps Officers, and two Marine Corps Officers who escaped after nearly a year in captivity after the fall of Bataan and Corregidor. The ten men evaded their captors for days until connecting with Filipino Guerillas under Wendell Fertig. The officers remained with the guerillas for weeks, obtaining vital information which they carried with them when they were subsequently evacuated by American submarines. Their escape was the only mass escape from a Japanese prison camp during the war. The personal courage and zealous devotion to duty displayed by Second Lieutenant Grashio during this period have upheld the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the Prisoner of War, and the United States Army Air Forces.{{cite web|url=https://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient/recipient-23044/ |title=Valor awards for Samuel Grashio |website= Military Times |access-date=2024-12-30}}