Demas T Craw
Demas was born on the 9th of April 1900, in Long Lake Township, Michigan, where he also grew up and attended school. His father was a game warden and Demas grew up hunting with his family. His parents divorced when Demas was five and both parents remarried and had one additional child each. He and his twin brother dropped out of high school a week after their 18th birthday to enlist in the US Army and Demas trained at Camp Stanley, Texas and Camp Hancock, Georgia before World War 1 ended. He was selected to attend the Central Officer’s Training School at Camp Gordon, Georgia, but the Army had been demobilized after the War’s Armistice. Demas had a three month break in service before re-enlisting and served as a recruiter before trying to receive a commission, which he would receive in June of 1924, after completing the US Military Academy.
While at West Point, Demus received the nickname of Nicodemus and he received an eye injury while playing polo. This injury almost stopped him from pursuing a career in aviation but he continued pilot training after graduation. Demus, now known as Nick, received his Airplane Pilot rating on the 12th of August 1927, and transferred his commission to the Army Air Corps in March of 1928. In November of that same year, his twin brother, Theron, died due to wounds received in a duck hunting accident. Nick then transferred to San Antonio, Texas, as an instructor of Basic, and later Advanced, Flight. He was then assigned to New York and then Hawaii, where he met Mary Wesson. Mary was the great granddaughter of Daniel Wesson, inventor and co-founder of the Smith & Wesson Company, and whose father, Frank H Wesson, was the vice-president and last direct descendent to be connected to the company. Nick and Mary were married in 1931 and the couple had one son, Nicholas. By 1940, Nick was a Major at Langley Field, Virginia and served temporarily as an air observer for the War Department in the Dutch East Indies, China, Romania, and India. He then served in Egypt, Italy, and Libya, where he was wounded during the beginning of the Greco-Italian War. Nick was captured by the Germans when they invaded Greece and six week later was exchanged in Bulgaria. Nick then became an observer again in Egypt in June of 1941, before returning to the States.
Nick was then deployed to North Africa as part of Operation Torch and it was his actions during the initial landing that would cost him his life and earn him the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty. On 8 November 1942, near Port Lyautey, French Morocco, Col. Craw volunteered to accompany the leading wave of assault boats to the shore and pass through the enemy lines to locate the French commander with a view of suspending hostilities. This request was first refused as being too dangerous, but upon the officer's insistence that he was qualified to undertake and accomplish the mission he was allowed to go. Encountering heavy fire while in the landing boat and unable to dock in the river because of shellfire from shore batteries, Col. Craw, accompanied by one officer and one soldier, succeeded in landing on the beach at Mehdia Plage under constant low-level strafing from three enemy planes. Riding in a bantam truck toward French headquarters, progress of the party was hindered by fire from our own naval guns. Nearing Port Lyautey, Col. Craw was instantly killed by a sustained burst of machine-gun fire at point- blank range from a concealed position near the road.
In the Jeep that Nick was riding in was the driver, PFC Orris Correy, and Major Pierpont Hamilton. They held American, French, and a white flag to help them get through the line and when Nick was killed, Correy and Hamilton were captured. Hamilton would eventually complete the mission and also received the Medal of Honor. Four months after the action, Nick’s family received his Medal of Honor on the 4th of March 1943. Nick and Major Hamilton are the only two Army Air Corps members to receive the Medal of Honor for non-air combat involvement. Demas Thurlow Craw, also known as Nick, was 42 years old when he died and his ashes were scattered over Weisbaden, Germany, on the 24th of June 1949. He has a cenotaph with his family in the Oakwood Cemetery in Traverse City, Michigan: Plot 1, Lot 175.
