Marine Corps PFC Lawrence Griffin, 22, killed in World War II, remains unaccounted for.
Born December 4, 1919, Lawrence was the eldest son and 2nd of seven children blessed to the union of Laurence Opte and Lydia (nee Rodriguez, sometimes spelled Rodrigue) Griffin. Mr Griffin was a carpenter and Mrs Griffen, a homemaker. The family attended Our Lady of Prompt Succor Catholic Church in Westwego.
Lawrence was a member of the Arizona's whale boat team, which was runner-up in the Pacific fleet races during the summer of 1941.
PFC Griffin turned 22 a few days before he was killed on the U.S.S. Arizona in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.
Along with his parents, left to mourn his passing were siblings, Mabel Louise (Mrs Leonard Babin), Robert Joseph Griffin, Glorious Rita Mary (Mrs Nelson Perkins), Max Augusta Griffin, Maxine Miller and Wayne Joseph Griffin.
All four brothers would serve at some point in their lives. Robert joined the Marines in the fall of 1942, just after his 17th birthday. He, too, was a private when he was killed on the opening day of the Battle of Tarawa, a fight the United States won at great cost. Nearly 1,000 of the 18,000 Marines at Tarawa were killed and 2,000 more were wounded. Seventeen of 4,500 Japanese troops survived. Max and Wayne, served in the Army during the Korean War and survived.
Marine Corps Private First Class Lawrence Griffin is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing" (56109302, a cenotaph). His name can also be found on the USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu (7883993, a cenotaph).
SOURCES
U.S. headstone applications for military veterans; www.marines.mil; the New Orleans Advocate; the New Orleans Times Picayune; Census; draft registration card; family grave markers. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.
Born December 4, 1919, Lawrence was the eldest son and 2nd of seven children blessed to the union of Laurence Opte and Lydia (nee Rodriguez, sometimes spelled Rodrigue) Griffin. Mr Griffin was a carpenter and Mrs Griffen, a homemaker. The family attended Our Lady of Prompt Succor Catholic Church in Westwego.
Lawrence was a member of the Arizona's whale boat team, which was runner-up in the Pacific fleet races during the summer of 1941.
PFC Griffin turned 22 a few days before he was killed on the U.S.S. Arizona in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.
Along with his parents, left to mourn his passing were siblings, Mabel Louise (Mrs Leonard Babin), Robert Joseph Griffin, Glorious Rita Mary (Mrs Nelson Perkins), Max Augusta Griffin, Maxine Miller and Wayne Joseph Griffin.
All four brothers would serve at some point in their lives. Robert joined the Marines in the fall of 1942, just after his 17th birthday. He, too, was a private when he was killed on the opening day of the Battle of Tarawa, a fight the United States won at great cost. Nearly 1,000 of the 18,000 Marines at Tarawa were killed and 2,000 more were wounded. Seventeen of 4,500 Japanese troops survived. Max and Wayne, served in the Army during the Korean War and survived.
Marine Corps Private First Class Lawrence Griffin is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing" (56109302, a cenotaph). His name can also be found on the USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu (7883993, a cenotaph).
SOURCES
U.S. headstone applications for military veterans; www.marines.mil; the New Orleans Advocate; the New Orleans Times Picayune; Census; draft registration card; family grave markers. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.
Marine Corps PFC Lawrence Griffin, 22, killed in World War II, remains unaccounted for.
Born December 4, 1919, Lawrence was the eldest son and 2nd of seven children blessed to the union of Laurence Opte and Lydia (nee Rodriguez, sometimes spelled Rodrigue) Griffin. Mr Griffin was a carpenter and Mrs Griffen, a homemaker. The family attended Our Lady of Prompt Succor Catholic Church in Westwego.
Lawrence was a member of the Arizona's whale boat team, which was runner-up in the Pacific fleet races during the summer of 1941.
PFC Griffin turned 22 a few days before he was killed on the U.S.S. Arizona in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.
Along with his parents, left to mourn his passing were siblings, Mabel Louise (Mrs Leonard Babin), Robert Joseph Griffin, Glorious Rita Mary (Mrs Nelson Perkins), Max Augusta Griffin, Maxine Miller and Wayne Joseph Griffin.
All four brothers would serve at some point in their lives. Robert joined the Marines in the fall of 1942, just after his 17th birthday. He, too, was a private when he was killed on the opening day of the Battle of Tarawa, a fight the United States won at great cost. Nearly 1,000 of the 18,000 Marines at Tarawa were killed and 2,000 more were wounded. Seventeen of 4,500 Japanese troops survived. Max and Wayne, served in the Army during the Korean War and survived.
Marine Corps Private First Class Lawrence Griffin is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing" (56109302, a cenotaph). His name can also be found on the USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu (7883993, a cenotaph).
SOURCES
U.S. headstone applications for military veterans; www.marines.mil; the New Orleans Advocate; the New Orleans Times Picayune; Census; draft registration card; family grave markers. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.
Born December 4, 1919, Lawrence was the eldest son and 2nd of seven children blessed to the union of Laurence Opte and Lydia (nee Rodriguez, sometimes spelled Rodrigue) Griffin. Mr Griffin was a carpenter and Mrs Griffen, a homemaker. The family attended Our Lady of Prompt Succor Catholic Church in Westwego.
Lawrence was a member of the Arizona's whale boat team, which was runner-up in the Pacific fleet races during the summer of 1941.
PFC Griffin turned 22 a few days before he was killed on the U.S.S. Arizona in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.
Along with his parents, left to mourn his passing were siblings, Mabel Louise (Mrs Leonard Babin), Robert Joseph Griffin, Glorious Rita Mary (Mrs Nelson Perkins), Max Augusta Griffin, Maxine Miller and Wayne Joseph Griffin.
All four brothers would serve at some point in their lives. Robert joined the Marines in the fall of 1942, just after his 17th birthday. He, too, was a private when he was killed on the opening day of the Battle of Tarawa, a fight the United States won at great cost. Nearly 1,000 of the 18,000 Marines at Tarawa were killed and 2,000 more were wounded. Seventeen of 4,500 Japanese troops survived. Max and Wayne, served in the Army during the Korean War and survived.
Marine Corps Private First Class Lawrence Griffin is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing" (56109302, a cenotaph). His name can also be found on the USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu (7883993, a cenotaph).
SOURCES
U.S. headstone applications for military veterans; www.marines.mil; the New Orleans Advocate; the New Orleans Times Picayune; Census; draft registration card; family grave markers. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.
Inscription
IN MEMORY OF / LAWRENCE J GRIFFIN
LOUISIANA / PFC US MARINE CORPS / WORLD WAR II PH
DEC 4 1919 DEC 7 1941
Gravesite Details
This memorial marker was placed here at the request of PFC Griffin's mother in hopes that one day he would be found and returned home.
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