This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Geraldine Reardon, HM3
to remember
Crawford, John, AOC USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Last Address TACOMA,WA
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Last Known Activity:
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Serving country never gets old for these retired vets
By MIKE BARBER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
TACOMA -- Like a lot of the 21st century Navy's reserve sailors drilling here last weekend, Chief Petty Officer John Crawford was wearing a uniform that blended in, except for one small detail:
The thin line of World War II ribbons across his chest.
John Crawford, 81, of Tacoma is serving in the Naval Reserve under special permission without pay or benefits.
Even before the parents of many sailors around him were born, Crawford had survived being shot down in a Canadian Royal Air Force Lancaster bomber over France; escaping a date with a Gestapo firing squad after his French resistance rescuers were betrayed; and being locked up at Buchenwald concentration camp and Stalag 3 prisoner-of-war camp before the Red Army troops liberated.
The whole article:
him.http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/160016_oldnavy10.html
Other Comments:
Someone is selling a chunk of Chief Crawford's legacy on eBay:
I'm just trying to piece together his service record. Apparently, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force, trained at the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan School #3 Bombing & Gunnery School at MacDonald, Manitoba, Canada. He was sent to England to serve with the Royal Air Force. He flew bomber missions as a Chief Aviation Ordnanceman & Air Gunner over Germany and France. His Lancaster bomberwas shot down over northern France a few weeks after D-Day, on July 7, 1944. He parachuted to safety, evaded capture for a while, spent about six months at Buchenwald, then was imprisoned at Stalag Luft III.
http://www.lostbombers.co.uk/bomber.php?id=10070
After the War, he came to the U.S., married local, and enlisted in the Naval Reserves. He served in Korea and supposedly retired in 1982.
It's quite a history and shouldn't be lost.
2003-2004, AO-0000, Naval Reserve Center (NAVRESCEN) Tacoma, WA
Best Friends U.S. Naval Reserve Master Chief Joe Beam and Chief John Crawford World War II Veterans Serve in U.S. Naval Reserve By U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Barrie Barber / Pacific Northwest Public Affairs District
PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. (NNS) ? Most people their age travel to exotic locales or enjoy a life free of the daily grind, but two World War II veterans are back in uniform in the U.S. Naval Reserve - and they wouldn't have it any other way.
Master Chief Aviation Electronics Technician Joe Beam, 76, of Marrowstone Island, Wash., and Chief Aviation Ordnanceman John Crawford, 81, of Tacoma, Wash., couldn't stay away.
?It's one of those things where you like to be with your own kind, especially after you get a lot of years in,? said Beam, who has 54 years of duty between the active-duty U.S. Navy and U.S. Naval Reserve.
Crawford flew World War II bomber missions with the Royal Air Force over Germany and France. He later joined the U.S. Naval Reserve and returned to ranks this year at the urging of Beam.
Both men serve on authorized special permissive orders through Naval Reserve Center Tacoma, Wash., and receive no pay for drill time or most expenses.
?It's not really an obligation, because we want to do it,? Beam said. And there is one important bonus. ?We don't have to do PT [physical training] very much. I don't think the chart goes to 60, 65, 70, 75 [years old].?
The two recently traded their chests full of ribbons for Hawaiian tropical shirts to play government leaders in the fictional archipelago of Mondo during Naval Coastal Warfare Exercise Seahawk '03, a joint and combined harbor defense exercise in Puget Sound, Wash.
During the exercise, they worked with active-duty and reserve personnel from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, Washington National Guard and U.S. Army, along with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Canadian Navy and Army.
?It's all new and just kind of a learning process,? said Crawford, who rejoined the Naval Reserve in June after he retired in 1982 with 33 years of service. ?It's just amazing, all these guys together.?
Crawford, a Canadian native, signed on with the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 and was sent to England to serve with the RAF. He and his seven-member Lancaster crew were shot down over northern France a few weeks after D-Day, the invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944.
Crawford joined the U.S. Naval Reserves in 1949. He was recalled to active duty during the Korean War, flying reconnaissance missions Patrol Squadron (VP) 892 in Japan. He later retired from the lumber industry.
Beam also served in World War II and Korea. During World War II, he was a sailor on USS Adams (DD 739), a destroyer minelayer. He and his shipmates kept Adams afloat after a kamikaze attack blew a hole in the fantail during the invasion of Okinawa.
After a stint in college, Beam rejoined ranks during the Korean War aboard USS Carmick (DD 493). He later returned to the enlisted reservist ranks and earned a bachelor's degree, before he retired from his civilian job with an aircraft manufacturer.
