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Major
Crumm had flown 25, B-17 combat missions in Europe before
his Guam assignment as Commander of the 61st Squadron,
39th Bomb Group. After VJ Day he moved rapidly through
many levels of command, i.e. Continental Air Command,
Strategic Air Command, the Pentagon, Joint Strategic Target
Planning Staff, which was responsible for developing the
U.S. Nuclear War Plan. In July 1965 Major General Crumm
was assigned as Commander, 3rd Air Division at Anderson
Air Force Base on Guam and responsible for all B-52 Vietnam
Theater operations as directed by the Joint Chiefs of
Staff. In this capacity he hosted visits/conferences by
the President, Secretary of Defense, senior officers commanding
the Vietnam Theater Forces, exchanged staff visits with
General Westmoreland, the Commander of MACV. During this
period Colonel Joseph J. Semanek was assigned as Commander
3960 Strategic Wing at Anderseon. In early 1967, one week
before departure for his new assignment in the Pentagon,
General Crumm was on his last Vietnam combat mission in
the lead B-52 of a three formation at 18,000 feet. The
formation was turning over the I.P. for a bomb run on
Vietnam target when the B-52 flying on his right wing
overran the formation and collided with General Crumm's
aircraft. The third B-52 saw parachutes come out of the
disintegrating planes but General Crumm, not occupying
an ejection seat, did not make it and was declared KIA. |
