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Birth and Early Life:
Jay Griffith was born in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, on August 26, 1920. He was raised in Massachusetts, excelled in school, and entered Dartmouth College in 1938.
Enlistment and Boot Camp:
Griffith began his life in the Corps on June 24, 1940, between his sophomore and junior years at Dartmouth. He was selected for Reserve Officer Training School, taking military tactics and leadership lessons concurrently with his college classes. He entered active service in January, 1942, just a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Griffith attended the Basic School at Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, and joined Company L, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines as a platoon leader.
Wartime Service:
Lieutenant Griffith shipped out for the Solomon Islands in July, 1942. He was in the wardroom of the USS McCawley with a handful of friends, when an officer approached with an offer that would change his life. Captain Tom Barry recalled the incident in a 1982 interview:
Four of us were sitting in the wardroom, shooting the breeze. There was Charlie Barrett his dad was a Marine general a fellow named Ed Gilson, later killed on the Canal, and Jay Griffith from L Company. One of our headquarter colonels, Gerry Thomas, came over to us. Any of you young officers want to volunteer for airplane observing duty he asked. Trying to show how salty I was, I made some crack about the number one Marine Corps rule, Never Volunteer! But Jay Griffith was really interested. Sure, he said, besides, I have a temporary flying licence.Okay, said Thomas, pack your gear, you're going to transfer to the cruiser Astoria. He was then slated to fly as an observer on the plane that was catapulted off the cruiser. His job was to observe the landing and to keep headquarters aware of what was going on.
Tom Barry, quoted in Henry Berry's Semper Fi, Mac!
Instead of the Nasty Asty, Griffith was sent to the Vinnie Maru the USS Vincennes. He was assigned to a Curtiss SOC-2 floatplane a Seagull which would launch from the cruise's catapults to spot targets for her main batteries. Vincennes sister ship, USS Astoria, launches one of her floatplanes in 1942. Griffith and his pilot, Lieutenant William Kirby, got an early start to the war on August 7, 1942. Their Seagull was shot into the sky, and the two circled over the landing beaches of Guadalcanal, calling targets and corrections to the gunners aboard the cruiser.
Date Of Loss:
The Vincennes was caught by Japanese searchlights in the early morning of August 9, 1942. As she sounded general quarters, enemy shells began landing on her superstructure. The second salvo hit her squarely on the hangar, destroying the scout planes and spreading blazing aviation fuel across the deck. Now brightly illuminated by the fires, Vincennes became an easy target for the ruthless Japanese gunners. Jay Griffith was killed in the sinking of the Vincennes; he was probably near the hangar when it was obliterated early in the fight. His friend Tom Barry would believe that for the rest of his life:
We later heard that they tried to catapult his plane once the battle started, but it took a direct hit. Both Jay and the pilot were killed. Who knows what would have happened if he'd stayed with the 1st Marines? I guess I'm talking about the old adage about your number being up no matter what.
Battle of Tulagi (including First Savo) /Battle of Savo Island
From Month/Year
August / 1942
To Month/Year
August / 1942
Description On 7 Aug 1942, the United States committed to its first land based counterattack. The Marines landed at both Tulagi and Guadalcanal, on both sides of Savo Sound. The installation at Guadalcanal was mostly construction workers and was an easy landing. The more established base at Tulagi involved heavy fighting, but was captured in two days. The Japanese responded immediately with air attacks from their bomber bases in New Britain (Rabaul) from the north and fighter strips in the northern Solomons (Bougainville). US carrier planes operating near the invasion fleet in Savo Sound defended. Thirty-three enemy were shot down for a loss of 12 US planes, one destroyer crippled, and a transport, George F. Elliot (AP-13), set afire and lost. The IJN also sent the Eighth Fleet from Rabaul to attack the US beachhead. This fleet (VAdm Mikawa) consisted of five heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and a destroyer.
The western approaches to Savo Sound were guarded by a screening force of six heavy cruisers and six destroyers (the battle fleet had been destroyed at Pearl Harbor) in two groups covering both passages. Radar pickets were the destroyers Blue (DD-387) and Ralph Talbot (DD-390) deployed west of Savo Island. The south passage was defended by HMAS Australia (flagship of RAdm Crutchley, RN), HMAS Canberra, USS Chicago (CA-29), Bagley (DD-386) and Patterson (DD-392). The northern group was made up of Vincennes (CA-44), Quincy (CA-39), Astoria (CA-34) and destroyers Helm (DD-391) and Wilson (DD-408). The eastern approaches also had a screening force, made up of light cruisers San Juan (CL-54 flag), HMAS Hobart, and destroyers Monssen (DD-436) and Buchanan (DD-484).
The IJN 8th fleet of fast cruisers arrived the second night and meet the US screening force for the Battle of Savo Island. At the same time, the three US carriers and their escorts, including North Carolina (BB-55), six cruisers, and 16 destroyers, were withdrawing to get out of sight of land-based bombers from Rabaul.
The enemy force of fast cruisers sent out scout floatplanes that reported the American forces. Both radar picket ships (radar range about 10 miles) were at the extreme ends of their patrols sailing away from the Japanese fleet which passed undetected about 500 yards from Blue. The enemy was lost in the visual and radar shadow of nearby Savo Island. Allied ships were faintly silhouetted by a freighter burning far over the horizon. The enemy discovered the southern force and fired torpedoes before they were detected. Simultaneously with the explosions, the scout plane dropped flares illuminating the allied fleet. Canberra was stuck by two torpedoes and heavy shelling. The US ships fired star shells and opened fire. Chicago of the southern force was torpedoed. The Jap force turned north in two columns. The northern defense force had not gotten the word, there was a rain squall in the area, and they assumed the southern force was shooting at aircraft. The two Jap columns passed on each side of the US force and opened fire on Astoria, Quincy, and Vincennes. The American captains ordered "cease fire" assuming they were Americans firing on their own ships. Vincennes caught a torpedo. Robert Talbot came charging south and was attacked first by friendly fire and then raked by the enemy escaping to the north. Quincy and Vincennes went down. During rescue operations for Canberra, Patterson was fired on by Chicago. Canberra was sunk the next morning to prevent capture as the US fleet left the waters that was hereafter called Iron Bottom Sound. Astoria sank about noon while under tow. Chicago had to undergo repair until Jan'43.
In just 32 minutes the enemy had inflicted massive damage. Four heavy cruisers were sunk and a heavy cruiser and destroyer badly damaged. 1,270 men were killed and 708 injured. The enemy had comparative scratches on three cruisers.
