He enlisted in the Navy on 18 May 1942, aged 17, and reported for duty on board the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco at Pearl Harbor on 17 July.

On 12 November, the San Francisco and other ships formed a protective screen off Lunga Point while troop reinforcements debarked from the transports and landed on Guadalcanal.

One torpedo-bomber, damaged by anti-aircraft fire from the screening ships, crashed into San Francisco, destroying the after control station and demolishing three 20 mm gun mounts.

Seaman Second Class George refused to abandon his gun in spite of the onrushing plane, firing at the attacker until killed by the crashing aircraft.

After shakedown off Bermuda, George sailed from Boston, Massachusetts on 11 January 1944 to escort a merchantman from Norfolk, Virginia to Nouméa, New Caledonia, where she arrived on 19 February.

After returning to Purvis Bay, Florida Island, on 28 October, George resumed anti-submarine patrols and escorted convoys to New Guinea, Manus, Guam, and Saipan.

Following return to San Diego in September 1953, she sailed for Sasebo, Japan, on 10 November, and conducted hunter-killer and screening operations in Japanese, Korean, and Okinawan waters.

After steaming to New Zealand and Japan, she served as station ship at Hong Kong; participated in Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation maneuvers off the Philippines; and operated from Guam on island surveillance patrols in the Marianas.