His Story

Crawford soon opened up about his past. He told them that in 1942, he joined the 142nd Regiment of the 36th Infantry Division. He was a member of the US Army then and was sent to fight in the front lines in the battle in Italy. He was the eyes and ears of the infantry, which was an extremely important job back then.

In the Thick of Things

During Crawford’s time in the army, he had an important job of defending the country. However, on September 13, 1944, he and his men were attacked by the enemy with mortars and machine guns. It had been a bloody day and they had nowhere to hide. His platoon was under fire, and rather than wait for word from the highest-ranking officer, he opted to go solo on the mission.