Fenton Harris Griffith (“Gruce” to us, his A-2 companymates) entered West Point as a diminutive dynamo from the small town of Murfreesboro, NC. His high school buddies report that he had a wicked outside jump shot and was nearly unstoppable as a running back. His size kept him off the intercollegiate fields of friendly strife, but he was a mainstay on the company intramural squads. He had the classic plebe smirk that turned into a smile that made him a favorite with all. His roommates relate that he kept them laughing, and his irreverent approach to regulations always kept things light. We all remember him as a boxer in the annual Brigade Tournament, during which, in his first match, he clearly stomped his opponent but lost the decision; justice was served as he was victorious in a rematch.
Keeping in good physical shape all four years, he took up the challenge of joining the Infantry branch of the Army upon graduation. After first marrying his West Point sweetheart, Marilyn, he joined a host of other ground-pounder classmates at Fort Benning, GA, where he completed the Infantry Officer Basic Course, Airborne School and Ranger School. His first assignment was the elite 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, NC, and it was no walk in the park. The 82d was part of the Strategic Army Corps, the strike force of the United States in a newly heated-up Cold War. First came operation Swift Strike I in the summer of 1961. Four divisions, including the 82d and the 101st, participated in the largest military maneuver since World War II. Marilyn and baby Brenda got their first taste of the other part of military life waiting at home.
Not long after this exercise, the 82d was deployed to a “hot spot” not remotely connected to the Cold War. In September 1961 the federal government ordered the integration of the University of Mississippi, which resulted in a riot among those opposed to it. Fenton and thousands of his fellow paratroopers were sent to Oxford, MS to quell the violence, which they did.
On October 12, 1961, Fenton and his troopers got a surprise in-person “thanks for your service” talk from President Kennedy, not knowing that in just a few days the 82d would deploy to Florida to prepare for an invasion of Cuba as the Cuban Missile Crisis was in full swing. Their mission: land in the sugar cane fields surrounding Havana’s two key airfields and capture them. They had prepared for this in Swift Strike. The crisis was resolved politically, in no small part because of the massive invasion force that was assembled. In his first year and a half as a young airborne Infantry officer, Fenton had participated in some of the most critical events in recent American history.
His career then shifted to intelligence work, which sent him and his now two-daughter family (Lisa was born in 1964) to Fort Holabird in Baltimore, MD to attend the Army Intelligence School. His final assignment was in Washington, DC. In 1965 he closed out his military service and joined IBM. For the next 10 years he sold computers for Big Blue. In 1975 he left IBM and became a manufacturers’ agent selling equipment to the electronics industry. Eventually he went out on his own, and for the rest of his working life he was a one-person corporation. As he once said, “I have enjoyed the continuing approval of the head of my company.”
In retirement he spent as much time as possible with his daughters Brenda and Lisa and grandchildren Madison and Olivia. In 1998 he married Judy Dunton, and we were treated to their presence at several of our now famous mini reunions. One of the pictures displayed at his funeral was a group photo of 13 company A-2 survivors at the 1997 reunion at Big Sur in California. Fenton’s last reunion with us was in Nashville in September 2013. He was struggling physically at that point, but nothing could wipe off that great smile we first saw in 1956 at West Point.
He unexpectedly died in Charlotte, NC on October 11, 2013. His obituary described him as a loyal, honest, and generous man, one who was gentle and caring and gave so much of himself to others. Daughter Brenda summed up Fenton thusly: “I remember my father’s infectious smile, his slightly odd sense of humor but most of all how much he loved his family. He was very proud of his alma mater and spoke often of his fellow classmates.”
We, his classmates of company A-2, can vouch for all those tributes and many more. One of the shortest of the short in our company, he was the epitome of grit and determination that was expected of graduates of West Point. He never lost his sense of humor. To the end he loved his family, his comrades in arms and his country. Well Done, Fenton! Be Thou at Peace!
— A-2 classmates and Fenton’s family