Orrin F. Crankshaw

Captain Orrin Crankshaw at their parents home in Lyndhurst,NJ, 1943

CAPTAIN ORRIN F. CRANKSHAW was killed in action in Germany, February 23, 1945. Born at Lyndhurst, N. J., December 24, 1910, Orrin prepared at Rutherford High School, and at Dartmouth was a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity, and a pre-medical student. He got his M.D. at Cornell University in 1935, interned at the New Haven Hospital, taught medicine at Yale, and joined the army in 1942 with the Yale Medical Unit. This unit staffed the 39th General Hospital at New Zealand and later at Guadalcanal, where Orrin was stricken with malaria. After several months of hospitalization in this country, Orrin went to England in February, 1944, took part in the D-day invasion of France, and subsequently won the Bronze Star for courage in the treatment of wounded under fire. He also held the Purple Heart, though he continued his duties despite wounds sustained in a mine explosion. Orrin is survived by his wife Adeline, his parents, a brother, Lt. Allan Crankshaw, USMCR, and five sisters.