Thomas "Tom" Grandin was an American broadcast journalist during WWII. He, along with several other reporters, were known as "Murrow's Boys". Grandin was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

Early career

Grandin graduated from Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 in 1930 and studied international law at the University of Berlin and L'Ecole des Sciences Politiques in Paris. While Grandin was in Paris he worked at the International Chamber of Commerce

International Chamber of Commerce

The International Chamber of Commerce is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. Its hundreds of thousands of member companies in over 130 countries have interests spanning every sector of private enterprise....

.

Grandin as a journalist

In 1939 Grandin became the second reporter hired by Edward R. Murrow

Edward R. Murrow

Edward Roscoe Murrow, KBE was an American broadcast journalist. He first came to prominence with a series of radio news broadcasts during World War II, which were followed by millions of listeners in the United States and Canada.Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, and Alexander Kendrick...

 and one of the original Murrow's Boys

Murrow's Boys

Murrow’s Boys, or “The Murrow Boys,” were the CBS broadcast journalists most closely associated with Edward R. Murrow during his years at the network, most notably the years before and during World War II....

. Though Grandin had no journalism experience Murrow hired him anyway, mostly for his language skills and his expertise in international issues. Grandin began covering Paris for Murrow and CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 but abruptly left Europe in 1940.

Paris fell to the German onslaught in 1940 and Grandin decided he had to return to the United States. His reasons were personal. Initially, Grandin intended to send only his wife back to the States but because she was Romainian and lacked an American passport she would not have been allowed into the country without him. While Murrow understood Grandin's reasoning others at CBS, including William Shirer, saw Grandin as a deserter.

In 1944 Grandin took a job with ABC News covering the war. In June of that year he accompanied the first American troops to land at Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II...

 in Normandy

Normandy

Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

 on D-Day

D-Day

D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...

. Grandin retired from broadcasting after the war and went to work as a sales executive.