Kenneth Griffith
Kenneth Griffith (March 18, 1932 – April 9, 1965) was a soldier from Brimstone who died in an air crash during the Vietnam War.
See Also: Scott Countians killed in war
Biography
Born March 18, 1932, Kenneth Griffith was the son of Lawrence Ernest Griffith (1907-1965) and Oasie Hill (1911-1979) of Brimstone. His siblings included Arnold Griffith (1927-2008), George Trumon Griffith (1929-1948), Kermit Griffith (1937-2008), Richard Griffith (1939-1989) and Doffice Lee Griffith (1954-1954).
He was a fourth-great-grandson of Joseph Griffith, a Revolutionary War veteran who was Gen. George Washington’s bodyguard when the British surrendered at the Siege of Yorktown. He was a second cousin to Joe Edd Griffith of Brimstone who was killed in action during the Vietnam War. He married Joe Edd’s sister, Helen Griffith (1934-2023).
Kenneth and Helen were married on Dec. 31, 1951 and had six children: Janice Bowling, Kathy Chambers, Diana Garrett, Brenda Spradlin, Kenneth Larry Griffith and Michael Griffith.
Vietnam War
PFC Griffith enlisted in the U.S. Army on March 15, 1953 and was assigned to C Battery, 7th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion.
Although he is listed on the Scott County Veterans Memorial in Huntsville as one of Scott County’s Vietnam War dead, he did not die in the war. He left the Army on March 16, 1955, before the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War began.
Death
Griffith died in a plane crash near Bellefontaine, Oh. on April 9, 1965. He and his family had lived in Ohio since he left the service and he was a pilot for Ontners Air Service in Wakeman, Oh. at the time.
His body was returned to Scott County for a funeral service at Lone Mountain Baptist Church on April 12, 1965, with Rev. Carl Jeffers officiating. He was buried at Lone Mountain Cemetery.
Just weeks later, on May 24, 1965, his father, Lawrence, was one of five men killed in a mine explosion at Brimstone. The explosion occurred at the C.L. Kline Mine. It was the second-worst mining disaster in Scott County’s history, behind the 1959 explosion at the Phillip-West Mine two miles away that killed nine people.
Helen remarried to Stanley Griffith and they had another child, Stanley Griffith Jr. She died in 2023 and is also buried at Lone Mountain.