Obituary: Albert N. Crawford / Devoted to serving his country and family
June 24, 1924 - Oct. 11, 2014
October 13, 2014 12:00 AM
On Dec. 7, 1941, 17-year-old Albert Crawford heard radio reports about the attack on Pearl Harbor and asked his dad whether he could join the service. "Yes. That’s one less mouth to feed,” his father replied.
Albert Crawford devoted four decades of his life to serving his country, starting with World War II. Mr. Crawford, of Coraopolis, died Saturday at Good Samaritan Hospice in the North Hills. He was 90. He grew up in North Side in a family of seven children. He dropped out of Oliver High School to join the Civilian Conservation Corps to help support his family. The public works project employed young men who built roads and park facilities. He left CCC to enlist in the the Navy the day after the Pearl Harbor attack. “The lines to the recruiting office were around the corner. He got in the Navy line because it was the shortest,” said his son Jonathan, of Tampa, Fla. “After medical screening they determined that his blood sugar was too high. He admits to living on candy while working in the CCC.” He was told to give up sugar and come back in a month for another test. He did and enlisted in January 1942. That launched a 38-year career in the Navy that included the Korean war and as a recruiter during the war in Vietnam. He retired from the military in 1980 with the rank of master chief petty officer.
During World War II he served aboard the USS Swivel, a rescue salvage ship that cleared the beaches and provided supplies for troops in Normandy after D-Day. He returned to active duty during the Korean War, serving aboard the destroyer escort USS Whitehurst.
“He was a natural-born leader, respected by all friends and shipmates, a good friend, patriot and a hero in the eyes of those who knew of his naval service,” said his friend Max Crow of El Paso, Texas, who also served on the Whitehurst.
In May 2013, Mr. Crawford received the French Legion of Honor medal for his contributions in the liberation of France from Germany. “I’m accepting it for all the shipmates on the USS Swivel that I served with,” he said in a speech during the ceremony. “This was not a one-man operation. I was just a cog in the wheel that achieved success."
The award made news for another reason: Four days before the ceremony, a safe containing the medal was stolen from the home of Pittsburgh’s honorary French consul, Jean-Dominique Le Garrec. They were able to get a replacement medal, which Mr. Le Garrec kept in the safety of his pocket until it was handed it over to Mr. Crawford.
He was keenly interested in military history, reading books and sharing information by email with his friends in the military. In civilian life, he worked as a mail handler for the U.S. Post Office and as a streetcar driver for the Port Authority. He drove the streetcar that is now at the Senator John Heinz History Center, his wife, Eileen, said.
Besides his wife and son Jonathan, he is survived by sons Albert Jr. of Boston and Bobby of New York, and daughter Kathleen of Cincinnati, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Visitation is from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. today at the Copeland Funeral Home, 981 Brodhead Road in Coraopolis. The funeral will begin at 11 a.m. Tuesday, (Oct. 13, 2014) with interment with full military honors in the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies.
Adrian McCoy:
amccoy@post-gazette.com
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