Squadron Leader (Surgeon) Eustatius William Barton Griffiths M.B., Ch.B., F.R.C.S.(Edin.), D.O.M.S. was the son of Eustatius and Nora Griffiths; husband of Margaret Ursula Griffiths, of Wanganui, New Zealand.

Educated at New Plymouth Boys High School from 1913 to 1921, then studied medicine at Knox College in Dunedin from 1921 to 1927. Worked in Wellington and Auckland before joining the Air Force, where he was commissioned in 1930 and received his wings in 1931. Served with RAF Far East in Singapore where he was a medical officer, and member of the Singapore Flying Club, before joining the Reserve.

Throughout the 1930s he moved between New Zealand and England while furthering his training, before marrying and settling in Hastings.

Recalled to service when war commenced, and posted to Singapore, where his wife and child later joined him. In early 1942, he arranged an evacuation for his family to South Africa, and a week later the Japanese reached Singapore.

He was at Alexandra Hospital when it was overrun by the Japanese forces, and was among the 200 members of the hospital staff that they killed in the latterly named Alexandra Hospital Massacre. AWMM