{"id":2366,"date":"2017-08-25T18:30:31","date_gmt":"2017-08-26T00:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/?page_id=2366"},"modified":"2023-06-06T12:47:29","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T18:47:29","slug":"edward-addison-griffiths","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/the-biographies\/edward-addison-griffiths\/","title":{"rendered":"Edward Addison Griffiths"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

(Brooklyn, New York, November 4, 1893 \u2013 Laconia, New Hampshire, January 23, 1972).1<\/a><\/p>\n

Griffiths\u2019s father, a coffee merchant, emigrated to New York from Australia around 1880; Griffiths\u2019s mother was a New Yorker of Irish descent.2<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Census records indicate that in 1910 Griffiths was working as a clerk in the insurance industry. By his own account, he was a member of the University of Virginia class of 1914; in 1915 he was working as a clerk for a broker.3<\/a>\u00a0 In 1916 he enlisted in the New York National Guard, and, as a member of Company E of the 1st<\/sup>\u00a0New York Cavalry, served on the Mexican border during the Mexican Punitive Expedition.4<\/a>\u00a0 He was a candidate at the Plattsburg Reserve Officers\u2019 Training Camp when he registered for the draft on June 4, 1917, and was among the twenty-five Plattsburg men (soon reduced to twenty) selected in July for aviation training at M.I.T.5<\/a>\u00a0Less than a week later he was among those \u201celated over the prospect of their designation being changed to the Canadian branch of the Royal British Flying School at Toronto.\u201d6<\/a>\u00a0But this turned out either not to have panned out or to have been rumor, and Griffiths did, indeed, attend ground school<\/a> at M.I.T., graduating August 25, 1918.7<\/a><\/p>\n

Along with about one third of his ground school classmates, Griffiths chose or was chosen for flight training in Italy, and he joined the 150 men of the \u201cItalian\u201d or \u201csecond Oxford detachment\u201d who sailed to England on the Carmania<\/i>. They departed New York for Halifax on September 18, 1917, and departed Halifax as part of a convoy for the Atlantic crossing on September 21, 1917. When the\u00a0Carmania<\/i>\u00a0docked at Liverpool on October 2, 1917, the detachment learned to their initial consternation that they were not to go to Italy, but to remain in England and attend ground school (again) at the Royal Flying Corps\u2019s No. 2 School of Military Aeronautics at Oxford University.<\/p>\n

On November 3, 1917, most of the detachment, including Griffiths, went from Oxford to Grantham in Lincolnshire to attend machine gun school at Harrowby Camp. At Grantham, Griffiths shared a \u201chut\u201d with four men from his ground school class, Harvard DeHart Castle, Henry Bradley Frost, Lloyd Andrews Hamilton, and Melville Folsom Webber, as well as Parr Hooper, Thomas M. Nial, and Edward Russell Moore.8<\/a>\u00a0There is a photo<\/a> that Hooper took of Griffiths and Moore standing at the entrance to the hut, as well as a similar one of Griffiths and Albert Sidney Woolfolk taken by John Chadbourn Rorison.9<\/a> These, as well as one<\/a> taken by Joseph Kirkbride Milnor, were presumably taken during the first part of the training at Grantham, because on November 19, 1917, fifty of the men, including Hooper, Rorison, and Milnor departed for flying schools.10<\/a>\u00a0Griffiths was among the men who remained at Grantham until early December and completed both two-week machine gun courses, the first on the Vickers, the second on the Lewis machine gun.\u00a0\u00a0He was thus at Grantham for Thanksgiving festivities and the cadets\u2019 football game between the \u201cUnfits\u201d and the \u201cHardly Ables.\u201d Although he was on the latter, losing, team, he played a good game. Journalist turned aviator Walter Chalaire wrote that \u201c\u2018Eddie\u2019 Griffiths, a New York boy, University of Virginia \u201914, as left guard of the Hardly Ables, played a ripping game. He was pitted against Lloyd Ludwig, of Brooklyn, Colgate \u201916, and in the good-natured battle between the two some blood was spilled.\u201d10a<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A
Part of Foss’s list of men assigned to squadrons December 3, 1917.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On December 3, 1917, finally, the remaining men at Grantham were posted to squadrons for flying training, and Griffiths, along with Paul Vincent Carpenter, Castle, Charles Louis Heater, Richard Brumback Read, and Phillips Merrill Payson, went to No. 36 Squadron, a home defense squadron flying F.E.2d\u2019s based in and around Newcastle.11<\/a><\/p>\n

I find no R.A.F. service record for Griffiths and no information on his training postings after Newcastle. Griffiths is one of many men whose appointments as first lieutenants with “non-flying” status Pershing recommended in a cable dated April 8, 1918; for some reason it took Washington over a month to send the confirming cable, which is dated May 13, 1918.12<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0In July 1918 Griffiths, along with a number of other second Oxford detachment men, was in France, at the 3rd Aviation Instruction Center at Issoudun.12a<\/a><\/p>\n

On August 18, 1918, Griffiths, along with fellow second Oxford detachment members Anker Christian Jensen, Edward Russell Moore, and John Howard Raftery, was assigned to and joined the U.S. 8th<\/sup> Aero Squadron at Amanty; they were soon followed by Hilary Baker Rex and Newton Philo Bevin.13<\/a>\u00a0The 8th<\/sup> was an observation squadron flying (American) DH-4s; it had been at Amanty since the last day of July, attached to the I Corps Air Service of the American First (and at that time only) Army. The squadron was now doing intensive training, including making flights over the lines. On August 31, 1918, as part of the planning for the St. Mihiel Offensive, the 8th Aero was transferred to IV Corps and moved to Ourches-sur-Meuse, where the IV Corps Air Service was based. Griffiths was assigned as a pilot to A flight, with Gardner P. Allen as his observer; the flight leader was Moore.14<\/a>\u00a0The squadron flew reconnaissance missions in preparation for and during the Battle of St. Mihiel in mid-September. On the 12th<\/sup>\u00a0and 13th<\/sup>\u00a0planes of the 8th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero \u201cwere in the air for thirty-six hours and thirty minutes\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. and twenty-four separate missions were accomplished.\u201d15<\/a><\/p>\n

The IV Corps Air Service did not participate in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, but remained initially at Ourches, performing photographic missions.16<\/a> On September 25, 1918, \u201cAt the suggestion of Colonel [Frank Purdy] Lahm two photographic planes were sent out on a single mission with protection instead of one machine. On such a trip made September 25th a string of pictures covering some forty kilometers were taken. This is one of the longest strips, if not the longest, photographed by an American Observation Squadron on a single mission.\u201d16a<\/a>\u00a0 The planes were piloted by Griffith and Claude Stokes Garrett; their photographer-observers were Allen and Robert James Cochran; a map with the locations of the individual photos in the strip marked was kept by the squadron.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Map showing strip of photos taken September 25, 1918. The strip begins just north of Arracourt (about 37 miles east of Ourches) and ends almost at the Moselle River north of Pont-\u00e0-Mousson. The map is p. 123 of “8th Aero Squadron.” See here<\/a> for larger image.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the end of September, IV Corps squadrons, including the 8th, moved a few miles east to Gengoult aerodrome near Toul. From there the 8th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero flew extensive photographic missions as well as voluntary bombing missions.17<\/a>\u00a0\u201cOne of the duties assigned at this time was to photograph the entire Corps front to a depth of ten kilometers, an area of about six hundred square kilometers.\u201d18<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The
This is taken from a section titled “A Day Over the Lines” in the (unpaginated) Second Army Air Service Book, an often humorous account of the squadrons under Chief of Air Service, Second Army, Frank Purdy Lahm. It is unfortunate that actual reconnaissance reports for Griffiths’s squadron were apparently not preserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On October 23, 1918, the 8th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero moved once again, this time about ten miles northeast to Saizerais where, again, they undertook voluntary bombing missions.19<\/a>\u00a0The 8th<\/sup>\u00a0was now part of the Air Service of the recently formed Second Army, whose \u201ctask was to begin a general offensive leading to the capture of Metz and the gateway into Germany proper.\u201d20<\/a>\u00a0The armistice supervened.<\/p>\n

\"A
Griffiths’s World War I military service abstract card.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eight days later (November 19, 1918) Griffiths was admitted to Base Hospital No. 55 at Toul, suffering from influenza. He was dropped from the rolls of the 8th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero on November 20, 1918, and transferred, apparently on November 25, 1918, to the Second Aviation Instruction Center at Tours, presumably to await orders home.21<\/a>\u00a0 Four months later, on March 31, 1919, he sailed on the S.S.\u00a0Pannonia<\/i>\u00a0from Brest and arrived at Hoboken on April 12, 1919.22<\/a>\u00a0 Griffiths\u2019s military service abstract card indicates that he was discharged at the end of the year; it also records, with no further detail, that he was twenty percent disabled.23<\/a><\/p>\n

After the war Griffiths returned initially to New York and worked for companies that supplied hotel equipment; in the forties he moved to Massachusetts and became the president of Jones, McDuffee, & Stratton, a maker of china.24<\/a><\/p>\n

mrsmcq August 25, 2017; updated August 6, 2020 to reflect Sept. 25, 1918, photographic mission<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Notes<\/h3>\n

(For complete bibliographic entries, please consult the list of\u00a0works and web pages cited<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\n

1<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Griffiths\u2019s place and date of birth are taken from Ancestry.com,\u00a0U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917\u20131918<\/i>, record for Edward A Griffiths. His date and probable place of death are taken from Ancestry.com,\u00a0U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935\u2013Current<\/i>, record for Edward Griffiths; this does not provide a place of death, but only a \u201clast residence.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0The photo is a detail from a group photo<\/a> of Griffiths’s M.I.T. ground school class.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

2<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Information on Griffiths\u2019s descent is based on records available at Ancestry.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

3<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ancestry.com,\u00a01910 United States Federal Census<\/i>, record for Edward A Griffiths; Ancestry.com,\u00a0New York, State Census, 1915<\/i>, record for Edward Griffiths.\u00a0\u00a0Griffiths wrote \u201cE A Griffiths. U of Va \u201914, Brooklyn NY\u201d on the back<\/a> of a photo of his M.I.T. ground school class kept by Joseph Raymond Payden. I have not thus far been able to locate an official record of his college attendance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

4<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ancestry.com,\u00a0New York, Mexican Punitive Campaign Muster Rolls for National Guard, 1916\u20131917<\/i>, record for Edward A Griffiths; \u201cCavalry Veterans Hold 1st<\/sup>\u00a0Reunion Since Border Days.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

5<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cTwelve N. Y. Plattsburgers Ordered to Flying School\u201d and \u201cAviation School List Cut.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

6<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cBrooklyn Aviators May Go to Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

7<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cGround School Graduations [for August 25, 1917].\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

8<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Hooper,\u00a0Somewhere in France<\/i>, letter of November 4, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

9<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Hooper,\u00a0Somewhere in France<\/i>, photos following Chapter 3; Doyle, \u201cWar Birds Pictorial,\u201d p. 35.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

10<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Foss, diary entry for November 15, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

10a<\/strong><\/a> Chalaire, \u201cThanksgiving Day with the Aviators Abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

11<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cCadets of Italian Detachment Posted Dec 3rd<\/sup>\u201d in Foss, Papers. On 36, see See Philpott,\u00a0Birth of the Royal Air Force<\/i>, p. 402, and Wikipedia, \u201cRAF Usworth.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

12<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Cablegrams 874-S and 1303-R; see here<\/a> regarding the recommendation for \u201cnon flying\u201d status.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

12a<\/strong><\/a> Dwyer, \u201cMemorandum No. 8 for Flying Officers,\u201d p. 4.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

13<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201c8th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero Squadron,\u201d pp. 140-41.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

14<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 Ibid<\/em> ., p. 134.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

15<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a08th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero Squadron,\u201d p. 116; this is part of the \u201cReport on Operations against the St. Mihiel Salient\u201d submitted by squadron C.O. John Gilbert Winant, which is also reproduced on pp. 689-91 of Maurer,\u00a0The U.S. Air Service in World War I<\/i>, vol. 3. Unfortunately operations reports that might provide details of individual flights appear not to have been preserved; they are not, for example, in Gorrell C.14.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

16<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Maurer,\u00a0The U.S. Air Service in World War I<\/i>, vol. 1, p. 245. Griffiths\u2019s New York military service card, which indicates he served in both St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne, is thus technically in error, but appropriately credits his service during the latter time period. See Ancestry.com,\u00a0New York, Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917\u20131919<\/i>, record for Edward A Griffiths.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

16a<\/strong><\/a> \u201c8th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero Squadron,\u201d p. 111.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

17<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Ibid<\/em>., pp. 111 and 112.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

18<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 Ibid<\/em> ., p. 111.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

19<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Ibid<\/em> ., pp. 112 and 144.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

20<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sloan,\u00a0Wings of Honor<\/i>, p. 360.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

21<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201c8th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero Squadron,\u201d p. 145.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

22<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0War Department, Office of the Quartermaster General, Army Transport Service.\u00a0Lists of Incoming Passengers, 1917 – 1938<\/i>, Passenger list of casuals for orders, on S.S.\u00a0Pannonia<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

23<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ancestry.com,\u00a0New York, Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917\u20131919<\/i>, record for Edward A Griffiths.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

24<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Ancestry.com,\u00a01930 United States Federal Census<\/i>\u00a0&\u00a01940 United States Federal Census<\/i>, records for Edward A Griffiths and Eder [sic<\/i>] A. Griffiths, respectively; and R. L. Polk & Co.,\u00a0Polk\u2019s Newton (Middlesex County, Mass.) City Directory 1948<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Brooklyn, New York, November 4, 1893 \u2013 Laconia, New Hampshire, January 23, 1972).1 Griffiths\u2019s father, a coffee merchant, emigrated to New York from Australia around 1880; Griffiths\u2019s mother was a New Yorker of Irish descent.2\u00a0\u00a0Census records indicate that in 1910 Griffiths was working as a clerk in the insurance industry. By his own account, he … Continue reading “Edward Addison Griffiths”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2497,"parent":30,"menu_order":53,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2366","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2366"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8118,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2366\/revisions\/8118"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}