HOLLY SPRINGS, NC, US U.S. Marine Corps MAJ, 4TH ANGLICO, (5TH ANGLICO, II MHG, II MEF FWD), MARFORRES 12/14/2011, HELMAND PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN
The IGTNT (I Got The News Today)site eloquently described MAJ Griffith: His passion and gift was to serve. Sam was an Eagle Scout and dreamed of being an astronaut, going to flight school, and becoming a military pilot. He graduated from Enloe High School in Raleigh, NC in 1993, and joined the Naval ROTC program at Penn State University.
Upon graduation from Penn State in 1997, MAJ Griffith was commissioned in the Marine Corps, and trained as a pilot. He married his college sweetheart, Cassandra after returning from flight school.
Sam volunteered earlier this year to go to Afghanistan as a forward air controller, identifying enemy targets and calling in aircraft. But MAJ Griffith’s father explained that his son wanted to go back to flying the F-18 Hornet. “He just told me about a month ago, ‘you know when I come back from this tour, I think I’m going to jump back in the airplane. I think I’ve done the other thing I need to do, now I need to fly again.'”
According to his mother, “He loved his family. He was very kind, considerate, compassionate and had a great sense of humor.” Her son, “was a very considerate man and a Godly man. He lived by faith. Anyone who knew him, loved him.
According to Pastor Andy Meade of Vineyard Community Church, Virginia Beach, MAJ Griffith and his family were outstanding members of the community. Pastor Meade added that MAJ Griffith not only served his country, but he was always serving the people of the area. Pastor Meade noted that Sam was just tremendous with his family.
“The greater difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempest.” Epicurus Samuel’s portrait is also on Poster 15