You Never Know

[Gregory Matthews]

To the cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy, William J. Cawford was just an old janitor.  They never spoke to him and he said little to them.  He cleaned their toilets and picked up the mess that they made.  Why pay any attention to him.  He was nothing more than a janitor!

Then one of the cadets noted his name in a report on a WWII battle. 

On a September day in 1943, Private Crawford had been in a platoon pinned down by machine-gun fire.   Twice, working alone, Private Crawford had forced the Germans to retreat.  A few days later he was captured by the Germans.  

On a February day in 1944, believing Private Crawford to have died while in captivity, a Medal of Honor was presented to his father for his single- handed actions in forcing the Germans to retreat.

In 1945, Crawford was liberated, returned home and left the Army.

In 1947, believing that his country needed him, he re-enlisted in the Army.  He retired in 1967 as a Master Sargent.  

In 1970, he took at job as a janitor, at the Academy.  He had never sought recognition for his heroism during WW II.  He was simply willing to serve, even to cleaning toilets.

NOTE:  Once his story became known to the cadets, things changed.  He was now much more than just a janitor.

In 1984 President Ronald Regan, formally presented him with a Medal of Honor as he had been considered dead at the time his father received in his name.

He died in 2000.

Some information came from a news item that I read today.  Most of it came from the following book:

Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty.  Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation,  2003 & 2006, pages 48 & 49.

 

NOTE:  For those interested, Desmond Doss is on pages 72 & 73 of that book.

 

[dgrimm60]

GREGORY

that was very interesting===== this is a good example about serving and being humble====a good lesson to  learn

dgrimm60