Grif Scarborough age 85 was born into eternal life on Saturday May 7 2005 at Halifax Medical Center. Memorial Services with full Military Honors will be held on Monday May 16 2005 at 3:00 PM at the Coronado United Methodist Church in New Smyrna Beach with Robert C. Brown Officiating.
Frank was born into this life on August 20 1919 to Frank T. and Mary G. Scarborough in Washington DC. Raised in North Carolina. He met his wife when she was an enlisted girl in the navy giving her a hard time he went back to apologize and never got away from her. Captain Frank Griffin Scarborough began his naval career upon entering the Naval Academy on June 12 1938. He was commissioned ensign in 1941 and is a graduate of the Naval Academy Class of 1942. From Jan. of 42-Feb of 45 he served as gunnery officer aboard the aircraft carriers Enterprise and Cowpens. He later became senior assistant engineer on the Cowpens. His WWII experiences include participation in such operations as the delivering of General Doolittle for the Tokyo Raid the battle of Midway the battle of Stewart Island Santa Cruz 1st 2nd 3rd 4th battles of Salvo Island Occupation of Marshall Island Gilbert Island Hollandia and the Philippine Islands. He participated in 19 of the 21 major engagements in the Pacific Ocean areas. In March of 1945 Captain Scarborough was assigned to the Bureau of ships in Washington DC to serve as special assistant administrative officer. In Sept. of 1946 he chose to attend a post graduate school at Carnegie institute of Technology in Pittsburg PA acquiring a BS and MS degrees in Metallurgical engineering. After earning his degrees he served aboard the cruise Dayton and with the Fleet Training group Guatanamo Bay Cuba as engineering officer and later to become ship superintendents and later Design Superintendent at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard he qualified as docking officer. After a 3 year tour as branch Head of Welding Casting and Fabrication in the Bureau of ships he reported as planning and estimating Superintendent for the Naval Shipyard Pearl Harbor. His next duty was as engineering officer of the attack aircraft carrier BON HOMME RICHARD in the pacific fleet. His expertise was soon called upon the father of Nuclear Power Admiral Hyman Rickover who asked Grif in 1954 to help him Weld lead for shielding nuclear reactors. He was in charge of Navy Metallurgy when the department revamped the method of casting bronze boat propellers so they wouldn?t become brittle and break and snap off in polar waters. When the navy started to build deep diving submarines the Metallurgist were astonished to find that down in a six inch hull tiny cracks would appear in the Weld. Grif said it took to many man hours and lots of months to find out that any moisture anywhere near the weld would cause nascent hydrogen embedded in the weld to recombine with atomic hydrogen causing the crack which was disastrous to deep diving submarines. Scarborough served as shipbuilding and repair superintendent of the San Francisco Naval Shipyard from Sept. 1961- June 1963. From July of 1963 to August 1965 he served on the staff of commander naval air force US Atlantic Fleet as ships material officer. From Sept. 1965 thru August of 1968 he served as the initial incumbent of the billet entitled Executive director of Quality Assurance Contract Administrative services and Defense supply agency. In Sept. of 68 he relieved as the supervisor of shipbuilding Conversion and repair USN Newport News VA. Throughout his career he received the Legion of Merit Medal Presidential Unit Citation Medal with 1st Star Navy Unit Citation Medal American Defense Medal with 1st Star Pacific Area WWII Victory Medal National defense Service Medal with 1st Star Philippine Liberation Medal with 2 Stars Pre-Pearl Harbor Medal with 1st star and Korean Service Medal.

He became involved in the Blue and Gold Program in 1971 after retiring from naval duty in Dec. of 1970. This program is designed to prepare aspiring high school students early for the tou