Major Griff Griffith
22nd Armoured Regiment (Canadian Grenadier Guards)

At this time the tank man’s black beret became our official head-dress and “Griff” was determined that the Grenadiers would wear it properly. Each morning he would issue the command – “Check berets!” … It was a small thing but it established the discipline and concern for correctness that became the hallmark of the Guards. He knew that the time would come when the battle was on, and we were in a tight corner, when discipline would save the Regiment from disaster.

(Robert E. Osborne, Pax in Bello, 52)

Born in Quebec City on 3 September 1896, Henry Crawford Griffith was an accountant and First World War veteran. He had enlisted with the 60th Battalion and went to France as a sergeant before suffering a gunshot wound at the battle of Mont Sorrell in June 1916. He was commissioned in 1918 and returned to the field with the 87th Battalion. He joined the militia after the war, serving as adjutant with the Canadian Grenadier Guards.

He acted as recruiting officer until an appointment to be second-in-command of the Grenadier Guards, replacing Major H.W. Rick who was badly wounded in a training accident. When the regiment converted to armour, Lieutenant-Colonel N.F. Peiler left for special instruction in England. Corporal Robert Osborne remarked that “Griff” “had the unenviable task of whipping us into shape. No man could have been better suited for the task … He knew what we were in for and he brought those lessons learned from the First War to us and saw to it that we learned them.”

Griffith held temporary command of the 22nd Armoured Regiment, which embarked to the United Kingdom in September 1942. He handed the unit back to Peiler and continued to serve as second-in-command until a command change in August 1943. Peiler left to take over a training unit and Griffith soon transferred to staff duties.

By 1945, he had been promoted to lieutenant-colonel and was made Member of the Order of the British Empire. He remained connected with his former unit, attending a 1944 Christmas dinner and visiting wounded soldiers, one of whom stated, “It showed his warm humanity and thoughtful concern for the lads of the Regiment.”

Griffith died in Toronto on 23 January 1981.