Oral History Interview with Garfield Crawford, January 28, 2008 All Tracks

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Garfield Crawford. Crawford was born 13 June 1922 in Edgar, Wisconsin and graduated from high school in Green Bay. He entered the Army Air Forces in March 1943. He trained at various bases and with a variety of aircraft. Upon graduating from multi-engine, he was assigned as an aircraft commander and went to Walla Walla, Washington for crew training. Arriving at Nadzab, New Guinea he made several training flights with experienced pilots prior to going to Wakde where the crew was assigned a B-24 in the 307th Bomb Group, 421st Bomb Squadron. Crawford recalls his first combat mission to Balikpapan. Of the twenty-four bombers on the mission, fourteen where lost due to heavy flak and Japanese fighters. He also recalls a mission to Negros Island where they encountered sixty enemy aircraft that dropped phosphorus bombs and steel rods above his formation in attempts to knock them down. During this mission, his friend’s plane went down. A month later, while returning from a bombing mission over Corregidor, he saw signals on the ground from the surviving crew members. They were rescued and sent home. Crawford flew thirty-eight other mission, most of which were from Morotai. He returned to the United States August 1945

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