Born in Brackenridge, Pa. on Nov. 22, 1917, where he grew up. As a young man he moved to Canton, Ohio and was driving a bus there when he met and married Dorothy Vitavec on Sept. 24, 1941. By Sept. of 1942 George and Dorothy were parents, and in Sept. of 1943 George was drafted into the Marine Corps. He went off to basic training at Parris, Island, South Carolina while Dorothy stayed at home with their son Richard. George started the war as a signal corps wireman in the 3rd Joint Assault Signal Company. The unit went to Guadalcanal for training, then participated in the invasion of Guam as part of the 3rd Marine Division. George received shrapnel wounds in the shoulder after only a couple of days of service on Guam. He recuperated at a naval hospital in the New Hebrides for a couple of months, then was sent to Guadalcanal where he was reassigned as a cook for officers, including a general, an assignment that took him to the Philippines following the initial invasion of the island chain. He spent the rest of the war cooking for officers, a pretty good assignment as George remembers it. After the war, he returned home to Dorothy, raised a family and continued to drive busses, primarily in California. After retiring, he moved to Springfield, Ill. to be closer to his children, and became active in the effort to build a World War II memorial in Springfield, the state capital.
From the description of An interview with George Cordier / George Cordier ; Mark R. DePue, interviewer. 2007. (Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library). WorldCat record id: 190864514
