[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 21, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H1155-H1156]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         PUEBLO, COLORADO: HOME OF A HERO, WILLIAM J. CRAWFORD

  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about another sad event last 
week, although the gentleman lived a full life, and that is about a 
gentleman named William Crawford, a Congressional Medal of Honor 
winner. My district is the Third Congressional District of Colorado, 
and just for those of my colleagues that need reminding, that includes 
most of the mountains of Colorado, all the resorts: Aspen, Colorado; 
Vail, Steamboat, Telluride; it has the industrial community of Pueblo, 
it has the San Luis Valley, it has Durango, down there in the Four 
Corners, the Anasazi ruins, the Colorado National Monuments, part of 
the Rocky Mountain National Monument, part of the Black Canyon National 
Monument. As my colleagues can see, any time I talk about my district, 
I get in kind of a promotional mood because it is such a wonderful 
district.
  But there is another reason that stands out besides the natural 
beauty of this district and the people of this district, and that is 
that Pueblo, Colorado is what we call the Home of Heroes. Mr. Speaker, 
this last week we had four living members from the community who 
received the Congressional Medal of Honor. This was not awarded, they 
deserved this, they worked for it. I do not have to go into what the 
Congressional Medal of Honor means, although in my opinion, any 
recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor is at the very highest of 
the echelon as far as a definition of what being an American is all 
about.
  Well, last week we lost one of our four; it was William Crawford. He 
passed away last Tuesday and actually they were holding a memorial 
service today at the United States Air Force Academy. I thought I would 
talk just a little about what Mr. Crawford did and how he earned the 
Congressional Medal of Honor. I guess the best way to do that is just 
take directly from the script which described his actions.
  But before I do that, let me say that one of the things that causes 
me some, I guess one would say discouragement, is when I read 
throughout the sports pages of our newspapers in this country, we read 
about heroes in sports. My opinion is there are celebrities in sports 
and there are a lot of talented celebrities in sports, but we really 
ought to be very cautious and very selfish about the use of the word 
``heroes.'' The word ``heroes'' really should be placed not on sports 
figures, but figures like William Crawford, figures like the firemen or 
the policemen that lose their lives. I think we lose a police officer 
every 28 hours in this country. This year has been a bad year for our 
firemen as well. We have lost several firemen in the line of duty.

  But let us go back to Mr. Crawford. I am not over-using the word when 
I use the word ``hero.'' He was given this medal and this recognition 
for conspicuous gallantry at the risk of life above and beyond the call 
of duty in action with the enemy in Italy on September 13, 1943. When 
Company I attacked an enemy-held position on hill 424, the 3rd Platoon, 
in which Private Crawford was a squad scout, attacked as base platoon 
for the company.
  After reaching the crest of the hill, the platoon was pinned down by 
intense enemy machine gun and small arms fire. Locating one of these 
guns, which was dug in on a terrace on his immediate front, Private 
Crawford, without orders and on his own initiative, moved over the hill 
directly into the line of fire and crawled to a point within a few 
yards of the gun emplacement and single-handedly stood up and destroyed 
the machine gun emplacement, killed three of the crew with a hand 
grenade and thus, enabled his platoon to continue its advance.
  So he climbs over the first hill, he is in the direct line of fire of 
a machine gun, he is able to crawl under the machine gun fire, he gets 
right up to the

[[Page H1156]]

 machine gun emplacement, he stands up, he eliminates three of the 
enemy and throws a hand grenade in and destroys the machine gun 
emplacement. But it does not stop there.
  They go to the next hill and after reaching the crest of that hill, 
once again they are pinned down by enemy fire, and once again Private 
Crawford decides unilaterally to do what he can do to save the platoon. 
He moves forward once again in the face of intense fire and here, 
instead of one machine gun emplacement we have two machine gun 
emplacements, but they are side-by-side. As Private Crawford crawls up, 
he goes first to the left and is able to engage in a hand grenade 
throw, throwing a hand grenade into the first emplacement, destroys 
that one and then stands, throws a second hand grenade and using 
machine gun fire of his own is able to kill the members or eliminate 
the second machine gun emplacement. But the machine gun was still able 
to be used, so he jumps into the emplacement, takes over the German 
machine gun and then turns it on the German troops who were then 
retreating and was able to provide cover for his platoon while they 
move into a safer location.
  That takes a lot of guts, and for that he was awarded the 
Congressional Medal of Honor. His passing is something that we all see 
with sadness, but I can tell my colleagues that during his 81 years, he 
lived a good life. He was properly recognized by his country for being 
what an American is all about, and that is putting duty and honor ahead 
of self, and that is exactly what Private Crawford did.

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