2015 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 48
BY SENATORS ADLEY, ALARIO, ALLAIN, AMEDEE, APPEL, BROOME, BROWN,
BUFFINGTON, CHABERT, CLAITOR, CORTEZ, CROWE,
DONAHUE, DORSEY-COLOMB, ERDEY, GALLOT, GUILLORY,
HEITMEIER, JOHNS, KOSTELKA, LAFLEUR, LONG, MARTINY,
MILLS, MORRELL, MORRISH, MURRAY, NEVERS, PEACOCK,
PERRY, PETERSON, RISER, GARY SMITH, JOHN SMITH,
TARVER, THOMPSON, WALSWORTH, WARD AND WHITE
A RESOLUTION
To express the sincere condolences of the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana to the
family of Louisiana Army National Guard Pilot Chief Warrant Officer Four George
Wayne Griffin Jr. upon his death.
WHEREAS, Chief Warrant Officer Four George Wayne Griffin Jr. was a native of
Delhi, Louisiana, and attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette after his graduation
from Acadiana High School; and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Griffin Jr. was so drawn to the idea of flying that he studied,
trained, and earned his small plane pilot's license when he was only sixteen years old; and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Griffin Jr. had a passion for military service early in his life, and
decided in 1994 to put college on hold in order to pursue his dream of flying military
aircraft; and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Griffin Jr. completed his flight training for helicopters at Fort
Rucker, Alabama, in 1999, when he was the youngest graduate in his class and was awarded
his Basic Aviation Badge and promoted to the rank of Warrant Officer as he began his
distinguished twenty-one year career as a military pilot; and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Griffin Jr. would ultimately accumulate more than six thousand
flight hours in the Black Hawk helicopter and more than one thousand combat hours during
two tours where he bravely served in Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2004 to 2005 and 2008
to 2009; and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Griffin Jr. met his wife, Becky, during his military service, and
they married soon after he returned from his first tour in Iraq in 2005, and began a family
which would soon grow to four children; and
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WHEREAS, CWO4 Griffin Jr. found himself in quite a different battle after his
overseas duty when he and his unit, the 1st Assault Helicopter Battalion, 244th Aviation
Regiment, based in Hammond, were deployed to assist in rescue operations following
hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Isaac; and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Griffin Jr. would also serve in state deployments in support of
Operation River Guardian and the Deepwater Horizon disaster following the BP oil spill;
and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Griffin Jr. awards and decorations from his military service,
include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal, National Defense Service Medal with
Bronze Service Star, Iraq Campaign Medal with two Bronze Campaign Stars, Global War
on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal with Oakleaf Cluster, the
Louisiana War Cross, and many other awards, as well as the Combat Action Badge and the
Senior Army Aviator Badge; and
WHEREAS, CWO4 Griffin was engaged in a night training mission with his crew
and a team of seven Marines over the Florida Panhandle on March 10, 2015, when his UH-
60M Black Hawk helicopter crashed into the water off the Santa Rosa Sound with no
survivors.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby extend its deepest and most profound condolence to the family of Chief Warrant
Officer Four George Wayne Griffin Jr. for their loss of a wonderful father, son, and husband
as he carried out his duties as a highly trained and elite combat military aviator.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
family of CWO4 George Wayne Griffin Jr.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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