COURTESY OF THE GRIFFITH FAMILY
Maj. Samuel Griffith, 36, was his unit's first to die in service to his country.
A Marine Reservist who grew up in Fuquay-Varina died during combat in Afghanistan on Wednesday.
Maj. Samuel Mark Griffith, 36, was shot in Helmand Province, according to the Defense Department. Griffith was a member of the Marine Corps Reserves' 4th Air/Naval Gunfire Liaison Company based in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Lt. Col. Aaron Marx, inspector instructor with the unit, said Griffith had been in the reserves for about three years, traveling as needed between Florida and his home in Virginia Beach.
He volunteered earlier this year to go to Afghanistan and serve as a forward air controller, identifying enemy targets and calling in aircraft to destroy them.
"He was doing what he loved," his mother, Kathleen Bischoff of Jupiter, Fla., told a television station there. "That was his gift. That was his passion."
Griffith was an Eagle Scout. He graduated in 1993 from Enloe High School in Raleigh and in 1997 from Penn State University, where he was a member of the ROTC.
From there, he was commissioned in the Marine Corps, where he trained as a pilot. He flew F-18s with All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 533 based in Beaufort, S.C., and also worked as an instructor for forward air controllers.
He had deployed twice while on active duty. He arrived in Afghanistan less than a month ago with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force from Camp Lejeune. He was the officer in charge of his attachment there, Marx said.
"He was extremely proficient at his job, one of the best I've ever known," Marx said. "He was excited to go and participate in the Marine Corps' mission."
In addition to his mother, he is survived by his wife, Cassandra, and two young sons, of Virginia Beach; his father, William Griffith, of Fuquay-Varina; two sisters; a brother; and three grandparents.
