US Army Tech5 George Donald Diffin was born in Lillian, Baldwin County, Alabama on November 4, 1919, the son of Donald David Diffin (1884-1934) and Georgia Resmondo (1884-1931). Georgia was formerly married to Felo M. Resmondo (1888-1917) until his death and then she married Donald David Diffin in 1918 in Baldwin County, Florida. He was a farmer by trade but during the Great Depression also worked as a bridge laborer, possibly with the government's WPA program.
George and his family lived in Pensacola in 1935, however three years later George got involved with five other men that brought him into conflict with the law. George was charged with the hijacking of a liquor van and received a suspended sentence. Five months later was involved with a theft charge and was sent to a road camp in Jackson County, Florida. By 1942, he was back in Pensacola living at 1905 West Magnolia Ave with Mrs. Evelyn Hendricks. At the time, he was working at the E. E. Saunders Company in 1942 as a packer. Evelyn may have been the wife of a co-defendant in the hijacking case back in March 1938. One of the six defendants in that case had confessed and was unnamed, which may or may not have been related to George's reduced sentence. Anyway, George was inducted into the US Army on July 4, 1942, and was sent to Camp Blanding, Florida for processing. As soon as his basic training was completed, he was assigned to the 24th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron attached to the 2nd Armored Division.
George and his regiment arrived in England in December 1943 where they began training for Operation Overlord. After the initial landing on D-Day on June 6th, the 24th Cavalry Squadron would land in Normandy three days later on June 9, 1944. There, they participated in the fighting on the Cotentin Peninsula and would later form the right flank of the Operation Cobra assault. They would slam into the Germans at Avranches on July 25 inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. By August 15, Diffin and his squadron assisted in the capture of Lonlay L'Abbaye and by August 23 they were located in the vicinity of Eure-et-Loire, France. As they neared the Belgium border on September 1 George was killed in action protecting the south flank of VII Corps. His body was turned over to the graves registration company and buried in a military cemetery. Regardless of his prior difficulties with the legal system, George gave his life for his country in her time of need!
Per the request of his family his remains were disinterred and shipped home aboard the US Army Transport (USAT) Barney Kirschbau in March 1949. Upon his arrival he was buried in the Old Spanish Cemetery in Lillian, Baldwin County, Alabama.
