By Lindsey Frazier, Features Editor
Billy Crawford was presented with a duplicate Congressional Gold Medal by Tisa Moore from the office of Rep. Mike Rodgers on Wednesday at his home in Whorton Bend.
“It is an honor and a privilege to bestow this upon you from our congressman Mike Rodgers,” Moore said as she knelt beside Crawford. “It’s such a pleasure and he wishes he could be here today.”
“Oh, I wish he could, but he can’t,” Crawford said. “I appreciate you taking over and bringing me this.”
In May, the Messenger featured Crawford, who turned 103 on May 8. A day later, Sheila M. Sovan, former national vice president of the American Merchant Marine Veterans Association (AMMV), emailed the Messenger requesting to be connected with the Crawford family.
Sovan, daughter of a WWII Merchant Marine, has helped more than 40 veterans and their families obtain duplicates of the medal awarded to the group in 2022 at a ceremony held by Congressional leaders at the Capitol, which Sovan said she was honored to attend.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives presented the medal to the merchants, which is now displayed at the American Merchant Marine Museum in New York, according to the Maritime Administration website.
The medal is the highest honor awarded by the United States Congress to World War II Merchant Marine service members for their critical role in the war, according to the website.
Once Sovan was able to contact the Crawfords, the process of obtaining his medal began, which meant a lot of paperwork for Crawford’s son Roy.
“Roy has been working on getting these awards for several months,” Vickie Crawford, Crawford’s daughter-in-law, said. “It took a long time to get all the paperwork. It was just amazing.”
Proving service took some doing, since the standard paperwork veterans use today didn’t exist for Crawford’s generation.
“In 1945, the Department of Defense didn’t exist, so there wasn’t a DD form,” Roy said. “… I had to send discharge papers, a copy of his ID that he had in the Merchant Marines and a couple of statements from the ship that he was on.”
A wooden-framed glass case holds five World War II medals Crawford received during his time in the service, where he delivered supplies to military forces.
Crawford’s life is much more peaceful now, living on a cul-de-sac with a river out back and a pond of catfish the family feeds daily at 5 p.m.
As everyone made their way toward the door, Crawford thanked Moore again for taking the time to deliver the medal and extended an open invitation to his house for the Messenger.
