In Korea he first served as an official Army war correspondent with the 223rd Infantry Regiment, then as public information officer for U.S.
His college days were cut short in 1951 when he was recalled to serve in the Korean War. His exposure to German military and civilian aristocracy supplied much of the inspiration for such Griffin creations as Oberst Graf von Greiffenberg, who appears in several of the Brotherhood of War novels.Īfter completing his active duty military service, Griffin attended Philipps-Universität Marburg at Marburg-an-der-Lahn. One of Griffin's duties was delivering food to German general officers and their families, including the widow of would-be Hitler assassin Claus von Stauffenberg.
His military occupation was counterintelligence and in this capacity he served in the Constabulary in Germany, thus earning the Army of Occupation Medal. He joined the United States Army in 1946. Griffin grew up in New York City and Philadelphia.
#W.e.b.griffin the hostage series#
Griffin’s #1 New York Times bestselling series finds Presidential Agent Charley Castillo in the middle of an investigation into kidnapping, assassination, and even political scandal in this action-packed thriller. She is told her children will be next if she doesn't tell the kidnappers where her brother is-a man who may know quite a bit about the burgeoning United Nations/Iraq oil-for-food scandal. An American diplomat's wife is kidnapped in Argentina, and her husband is murdered before her eyes. Griffin's knowledge of military jargon and administrative writing style shows in his works. He was well-known and respected in the literary world for his thrillers and crime novels. He has 160 fiction and nonfiction works to his credit. After his first three novels proved successful, he left this job to pursue writing full-time. Army Signal Aviation Test & Support Activity at Fort Rucker, Alabama. After the end of the Korean War, Griffin continued to work for the military in a civilian capacity as Chief of the Publications Division of the U.S. His exposure to German military and civilian aristocracy supplied much of the inspiration for such Griffin creations as Oberst Graf von Greiffenberg, who appears in several of the Brotherhood of War novels. One of Griffin's duties was delivering food to German general officers, and their families, including the widow of would-be Hitler assassin Claus von Stauffenberg. He also published under 11 other pseudonyms and three versions of his real name (W. 21 of those books were co-written with his son, William E Butterworth IV. Griffin, was an American writer of military and detective fiction with 59 novels in seven series published under that name. William Edmund Butterworth III (Novem– February 12, 2019), better known by his pen name W.