Howard R. Craven’s Navy Cross citation
The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to
Howard R. Craven
Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps
for service as set forth in the following
CITATION:
for extraordinary heroism and conspicuous devotion to duty while serving with Company A, SECOND Marine Raider Battalion, during the Marine Raider Expedition against the Japanese-held island of Makin in the Gilbert Islands on 17 and 18 August 1942. During a very critical period of the fight, Private First Class Craven, in company with a comrade, fighting valiantly and with great determination, defeated successive and violent counter measures of enemy Japanese and succeeded in holding the left flank of the assault echelon. His courageous and determined action, performed with complete disregard for his own personal safety, was a vital factor in the success of the raiding force and was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
Howard Craven was the name under which this Marine served and was awarded the Navy Cross. His name was later legally changed to William Bernard Murphree.
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Here’s my second post, I made a fresh email in the hopes you will see this.
friendsofwilliam2023@gmail.com
Please send an email over, I will keep it logged into my phone with notifications turned on, but I will remember to check back frequently. Thank you! -Alex
To the anonymous poster, my great grandfather was friends with your great uncle. I have William Murphree’s discharge papers, with citations referring to his deeds in Guadalcanal and his navy service cross. I would love to find family to get this incredibly special document to, as we’ve assumed he had no family. Until the day his paper finds its rightful home, we will celebrate his heroic actions in the war as if he were our own. God bless this man, and thank you for clearing up why he went awol. This is the bottom of the rabbit hole on trying to find him. I will leave a second comment with an email address with the hopes you or another family member will see this, I just missed your comment by a couple months.
His name was William Bernard Murphree, he went AWOL from the US Army and enlisted in the Marines under a false name, Howard Craven. He was never legally Howard Craven. Also, he was my great uncle