George W. Duffy was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He attended the Massachusetts Nautical School (originally the Massachusetts Nautical Training School, now the Massachusetts Maritime Academy) in Buzzard's Bay, and became the Junior Third Officer of the MV American LEADER upon graduation in 1941. At the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the LEADER was in Manila. She supplied the American military in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans with a variety of necessities during the first months of the war. On the night of September 10, 1942, the German raider MICHEL attacked the LEADER off of the coast of South Africa, sinking her and capturing the 47 survivors of her 58-man crew. They, along with survivors from the British EMPIRE DAWN and the American S.S. WILLIAM F. HUMPHREY were transferred to the the German UCKERMARK in October 1942, then taken to Batavia, Java, where they were turned over to the Japanese and interred in a prision camp. Duffy was held there until June 26, 1944, when he was transferred aboard the Japanese CHUKKA MARU to Sumatra to work on a railroad the Japanese were building between Pakanbaru and Moeara. There, he survived hard work and disease until his release at the end of the war. After his release, Duffy became an advocate for Merchant Marine P.O.W. benefits, contributing articles to the Newburyport News and to "Capt. George W. Duffy's P.O.W. Page" of the "American Merchant Marine at War" website.