At Historycal Roots we were saddened to hear of the death on New Year’s Day of WW2 veteran Jack Crawford, aged 101.
John Desmond Crawford was born in Lucea, Jamaica, in April 1923. He joined the RAF on 18th September 1944 and came to Britain with the second contingent of West Indian recruits, landing at Greenock near Glasgow in November. From there he was sent to RAF Hunmanby Moor, Filey, Yorkshire for his initial British training.
After the war Jack returned to Jamaica where he worked for the Customs and Excise in Kingston. He married Gloria Elizabeth Grant in 1948 and they had their first two children (a son and a daughter) in Jamaica.
In 1953 Jack decided to return to Britain and was accepted for an apprenticeship with the De Havilland Aircraft Company. Soon after this, two fatal crashes of De Havilland’s pioneering Comet airliners meant that the company had to get rid of staff. Jack lost his job, so he re-joined the RAF where he remained for the rest of his career. Gloria and their children joined him in England in 1955 and the couple went on to have three more daughters.
Jack served in the RAF in many parts of the world and rose to the rank of Chief Technician. In 1974 he was awarded the BEM (British Empire Medal) for his service in the RAF, in particular for his work in modifying the Artificial Horizon test equipment in the Phantom Aircraft, which he researched in his own time.
Jack had a great curiosity, love and appreciation of nature, art and classical music. He used his artistic skills to paint portraits and landscapes and everything in between, including large scale themed backdrops for events and social occasions in the Sergeants’ mess.
In 2019 he was featured in the From War to Windrush exhibition in Bradford City Hall, organised by Lincoln Anderson and MOBE (Marshfield Odsal Bankfoot Enterprise), and in 2023 he was present at the unveiling of the plaque in Filey to commemorate the West Indian ex-servicemen who trained at RAF Hunmanby Moor.
May he rest in peace.
For more of Jack’s story, see:
https://www.africansinyorkshireproject.com/raf-recruits-john-desmond-crawford.html