Family members, friends, and supporters pose in front of the sign that will adorn the Interstate 25 overpass at North Academy Boulevard, now named the Daniel T. Griffin Memorial Bridge. (O’Dell Isaac/The Gazette)
(Tribune News Service) — The city of Colorado Springs, Col., renamed an overpass bridge in honor of one of the first American service members killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Dozens of city and state leaders, military veterans and family members attended a brief ceremony near the Interstate 25 overpass on North Academy Boulevard Tuesday to commemorate the Daniel T. Griffin Memorial Bridge, dedicated to the first Coloradan killed in the 1941 attack.
Daniel’s grandson, Dave Griffon, pushed for a public memorial for years. Dave and his siblings grew up hearing their grandfather’s story, passed down by their father, Don, who was 14 months old at the time of Daniel’s death.
“He told us kids the story early on, because he wanted it to live on through the generations,” Dave Griffin said during Tuesday’s dedication.
Dedicating the bridge was more complicated than it might seem, according to Sallie Clark. Clark, who previously served as the city’s adviser for government and military affairs, helped lead a collaborative effort between the city, the Colorado state legislature, and the Colorado Department of Transportation to complete the project.
“You can’t just decide to put up a sign,” said Clark, who now serves as the state director for USDA Rural Development in Colorado. “There’s a lot that goes into it.”
A 1928 graduate of Colorado Springs High School — now Palmer High School — Daniel T. Griffin was standing watch in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese bombers began attacking the naval station. He reportedly alerted others of the attack before swimming out to his plane, which sat in the waters of the bay.
As the naval aviator began to take off, the plane was strafed by machine gun fire and crashed. The injured Griffin was shot and killed as he attempted to swim to shore.
Griffin’s body, 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 his bravery, and USS Daniel T. Griffin, a destroyer escort, was commissioned in his honor in 1943.
The Griffin family is currently in talks with the Palmer High School Alumni Association in hopes of having a Daniel Griffin memorial placed at the school when it is renovated.
“I really want this story to live on with the kids,” Dave Griffin said. “We want to at least expose future generations to it, and I think this is the way to do it.”
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