Griffith was born May 31, 1906, in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. Upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy with a B.S. in electrical engineering in 1929, he accepted a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. Prior to World War II, he took part in the Second Nicaraguan Campaign, and served in China, Cuba, and England. From 1935 to 1938, he studied the Chinese language while attached to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, where he mastered Chinese.
