George Harold Crawford was born on December 15, 1908, in Fairfield, Spokane County, Washington. He was the son of George Henry Crawford and Frances G. Muldary. He was married to Helen Satterlee Travis. Appointed to West Point in 1929, he graduated with the Class of 1933. Commissioned in the Coast Artillery, he served in Panama. He was assigned to Fort Barrancas, Florida, and later attended the Coast Artillery School at Fort Monroe, Virginia. Graduating in 1939, he was sent to the Philippines, where he served with the 92nd and later the 60th Coast Artillery Regiments at Fort Mills, Corregidor.

At the outbreak of World War II, he commanded an anti-aircraft automatic weapons battalion and was promoted to Major. Despite constant shelling and bombings, he often traveled alone to inspect positions, refusing to endanger others. His dedication led him to risk his life even further by visiting Bataan during intense combat to gather firsthand information to strengthen his defenses. During the fall of Corregidor, he was captured and spent years as a prisoner of war at PW Camp #1 in Cabanatuan, where he continued to serve others, sharing medicine, food, and encouragement despite his own illness and hunger. Major Crawford was killed instantly on December 15, 1944, when the Oryoku Maru, the Japanese prison transport carrying him and other American POWs, was bombed and sunk by U.S. aircraft in Subic Bay.

Maj Crawford's name is memorialized in the Tablets of the Missing in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines. He also has a cenotaph in the Lakewood Cemetery, Bowling Green, Caroline County, Virginia, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, alumni.westpointaog.org