Godfrey was born in 1921 in Hammersmith, London to Polish born Harry and Fanny née Venicoff and he had an older sister Zena. Their father Harry died in 1924. The family ran a tobacconist shop which Fanny was still running in 1939 in Paddington.

Godfrey was an air bomber on Lancaster ME748 which departed RAF Kirmington on an operation to Duisberg. The aircraft was hit flak and crashed at Hamborn-Bruckhausen at 01:35. (Nachtjagd Combat Archives 1944 Part 4 – Theo Boiten).

W/Op A/G, Kadir Kamn Nagalingham, 1378626
Nav, Edward Frank Rogers, 1612257
Pilot, George Kenneth Shaw, 182101. George Shaw is buried in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery; his crew have no known graves.
W/Op, Sydney Dennis Starbick, 1894243
A/G, Robert Thompson, 1799820
A/G, Robert Wills, 1799461