George T. Griffiths

Sergeant George T. Griffiths was born in 1924 in Pennsylvania to Charles T. and Grace Marion Griffiths. In 1930 the family lived at 16 South 11th Street in Darby, PA. His father supported the family at that point as a telephone installer for Bell Telephone. George T. Griffiths was the eldest of four children, the others being sister Marion, brother Charles P., and youngest sister Jean. He had attended Marple-Newtown High School in Newtown, PA, and was working at the Sun Shipyard in Chester, PA when he enlisted into the United States Army on October 20, 1942.

George T. Griffiths qualified for flight duty, and graduated as an aircraft mechanic on March 6, 1943 from Embry Riddle Aviation School at Miami, FL. From there he was sent to aerial gunnery school at Tyndall Field, FL, where he was promoted to Sergeant, awarded his wings, and was cited for his marksmanship. He was able to visit his mother, who was then living at 600 Berkeley Street in Camden, NJ, in September of 1943, when he received a furlough.

Sergeant George T. Griffiths was killed on October 1, 1943 when the plane he was serving as assistant flight engineer in crashed near Elk, CA, in Mendocino County. He was 19 at the time of his death. After a funeral arranged by the Joseph Murray Funeral Home of 408 Cooper Street in Camden, he was buried at Glenwood Memorial Gardens in Broomall, PA. George Griffiths was survived by his mother, brother Charles, and two sisters, Jean Griffiths, then 13, and Mrs. Marion Griffiths Henson.