EM3c Robert Alfred Griffiths

Robert Alfred Griffiths was born Aug. 12, 1921 in San Diego, California to Robert C. Griffiths, a police officer, and Mabel Scovell Griffiths, a homemaker.

The parents married in England — where Mabel was from — in March 1919, just before Robert C. was released from Naval service in World War I.

Their son enlisted in the Navy less than a month after his 18th birthday. He was an electrician’s mate and petty officer third class when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

When his father, then 48, heard the news that Robert Alfred was dead, his first reaction was to try to re-enlist. It does not appear that he was accepted, probably because of his age.

At least two other sons served in the military — William in the Navy from 1939 to 1959, and James in the Army Air Forces from 1943 to 1946.

Sources: The San Diego Union; U.S. passport application; California birth index; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs death files; Census; Navy muster rolls.  This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.