Horace was born in Newcastle, Wyoming, and grew up on his father's ranch. His father was Horace Calvin Crofford, Sr.; his mother was Ada Clemina Hall. Horace and Ada had four children: my grandfather Horace born in 1894, Oliver born in 1896, Abram born in 1898, and the baby Miriam born in 1900. The four siblings grew up and scattered all over the northern part of the mid-west, in Montana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and South Dakota.
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Horace C. Crofford
on the beach in
Normany, France |
Horace enlisted in the army on July 1, 1917 at age 22. He trained as a telegrapher, and was stationed in France in 1918 and 1919. (I remember him teaching me the Morse Code when I was a child). His rank was Sergeant. From September 26 to October 12, 1918, he was in the Gerardmer Sector (in German territory); from November 2nd to 9th he was in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, also called
Battle of the Argonne Forest.* Once, as he later told his children, Horace had to walk in knee-deep water for weeks and developed a leg infection. He also shared that he was up a telephone pole when the Armistice was announced. He was honorably discharged on June 22, 1919.
*
Interesting that in later years, his son, "Sonny," also named Horace Calvin Crofford, lived with his wife and four children on Argonne Avenue in Norfolk, Virginia.
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Horace's closest friend was Joe Pivernitz.
They remained friends and in touch after
leaving the army. |
After the war, he lived with his widowed mother in Waukagan, Illinois, where she was a telephone operator. He used his telegrapher skills with the railroad for a time. He attended school at the AMBU Engineering Institute in Chicago, training as an electrician.
...to be continued...
