Azalea Inn & Gardens: Savannah, Georgia Bed and Breakfast

Albert Crawley, 1894-1986

Veterans Day is the single day in the year set aside to thank those who have served our country in times of peace and during times of conflict.  Honoring my roots and paying tribute to our Veterans is a part of the fabric of my being. I grew up the daughter of a career Air Force man who also served in WWII, the neice of a WAV, the granddaughter of  a soldier who served with the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force and was injured at Vimy Ridge, France during WWI. I am the sister of a former Air Force MP who has continued her career with the Jacksonville Police Department.  I am also the granddaughter of Albert Crawley who served in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.  In Grand Falls, Newfoundland, at the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 12, hangs a map my grandfather brought back from the battle of Keiberg Ridge during World War I stained in the blood of his captain. My granddad scooped the map dropped by his fallen captain and continued up the ridge. He lost of one of his best friends in that same assault, one of three young men from Grand Falls who joined together and had sequential serial numbers. There too was a display of the Crawley family who had been in service to their country: grandfather Albert, sons-in-law John Scott and Bernard Davis, sons Jerry and William, followed in the next generation by Jerry Crawley’s children: Maureen Crawley (who died on active duty), Diane, Nancy and Cathy Crawley. His son-in-law, John Scott, has two children who also gave service to their country and their names and pictures will soon be added to the display: my sister Sharon Scott and I.

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