Months ago, I was shown an obituary for a Robert M. Crawford. It had run in the March 16, 1961, Chehalis Advocate, and was on file at the Lewis County Historical Museum in the county seat. According to his obituary, Crawford "became one of the country's better known musicians after he graduated from high school in Chehalis in 1915."
After a brief illness at the age of 61, Crawford died on March 12, 1961, in New York City at the age of 61. He had become famous during his lifetime for his musical compositions. The most famous of those compositions was the Army Air Corps official song written in 1941 (now called the Air Force Song).
You might be mumbling to yourself, "It can't be that famous, I don't recognize it." But you will when you learn that the official song for what is now the U.S. Air Force starts off with the following, "Off we go into the wild blue yonder."
Now you recognize it, I'll bet. And, being a betting woman, I'll bet many of you didn't know that famous song was written by a local man. Here's how the song came to be:
In 1938, Liberty magazine sponsored a contest for a spirited, enduring musical composition to become the official Army Air Corps song. Of 757 scores submitted, the one written by Robert Crawford was selected by a committee of Air Corps wives. The song was officially introduced at the Cleveland Air Races on Sept. 2, 1939, and Crawford "the Flying Baritone" (who flew his own plane to his performances) sang it in its first public rendition.
According to www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/prewwii/eaf.htm, Crawford's original title for the song was "What Do You Think of the Air Corps Now?" However, he changed it for the contest to "Nothing'll Stop the Air Corps Now."
By the time the song was published in 1939 as "The Army Air Corps" song, the phrase had been changed again, this time to "Nothing'll Stop the Army Air Corps." With the creation of the separate U.S. Air Force in 1947, the official name became the "Air Force Song" and the phrase was changed to "Nothing'll Stop the U.S. Air Force."
The following will undoubtedly amaze you: "The first page of the score, which Crawford submitted to the selection committee in July 1939, was carried to the surface of the moon on July 30, 1971, aboard the Apollo 15 'Falcon' lunar module by Col. David R. Scott and Lt. Col. James B. Irwin.
"Interestingly, at the moment the 'Falcon' blasted off the surface of the moon with Scott and Irwin on board, a rendition of the 'Air Force Song' was broadcast to the world by Maj. Alfred W. Worden, who had a tape recorder aboard the 'Endeavor' command module which was in orbit above the moon. Scott, Irwin, and Worden comprised the first and only 'All-Air Force' Apollo crew and arranged to take the page of sheet music with them as a tribute to Crawford and the U.S. Air Force."
Let's revisit Crawford's Advocate obituary: "Bob, as he was known to many in Chehalis, might be said to have started his musical career in Chehalis High School. With a wealth of natural talent, he organized a male quartet of high school boys whom he trained and with whom her traveled quite extensively for those times, winging wherever they could book an appearance. Other members of the original quartet were Harold Quick, Bob Mahar and August Jaeger."
"Bob came to Chehalis from Fairbanks, Alaska and attended high school here while making his home with his brother, Sam Crawford, who was then editor of The Advocate."
Bob Crawford was said to have been born in Alaska in 1899 to fortune-seeking parents attracted by news of the Klondike gold strike. For years the Crawfords are reported to have scratched out a living, moving about to follow the news of other gold strikes in the Yukon. Bob Crawford was talented from an early age and often entertained for the miners, who are said to have dropped nuggets into his fur cap.
However, his parents knew there was not much of a life for him in Alaska, nor many opportunities for him to educate himself, so they sent him, at the age of 14, to the "lower 48" to live with his brother.
An article by retired USAF Col. Murray Green at http://public.amc.af.mil/band/history/afsong.htm reads, "His entry was an instant and unanimous selection."
According to a Sept. 26, 1940, Chronicle item, Crawford also wrote the music and words for a song that was "adopted as the official campaign song by the eastern division of the Republican national committee and during the next few weeks will be used to help the election of Wendell Willkie as president."
Called, "Thank God! We've Found the Man," sheet music was made available at the Republican National Committee's office in New York City and recording made by Crawford and the Scarletiers were to be "available soon."
Willkie was born in Elwood, Ind., on Feb. 18, 1892. The Republican party tapped Willkie, a lawyer and utilities executive, to run against Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940, even though Willkie was a former Democrat. Willkie failed to unseat FDR.
Pat Jones is The Chronicle's lifestyle editor. She may be reached by e-mail at pjones@chronline.com, or by telephoning 807-8226. The Lewis County Historical Museum's Internet address is www.lewiscountymuseum.org.
