Billie J. Crumpton’s Navy Cross citation
The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to
Billie Joe Crumpton
Private, U.S. Marine Corps (Reserve)
for service as set forth in the following
CITATION:
for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving with a heavy machine-gun crew in Company D, First Battalion, Seventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division, during the action against enemy Japanese forces on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on the night of 24 – 25 October 1942. When his squad leader and the remainder of his crew were killed or wounded during a mass frontal attack by hostile forces, Private Crumpton, although he, himself, was severely injured, gallantly stood by his gun and by maintaining effective fire, kept the enemy from penetrating the sector. Later, after his gun had been put out of action, he remained in an exposed position beside the disabled weapon and resumed fire with his rifle until wounds from exploding hand grenades forced him out of the fight. By his courageous devotion to duty and grim determination in the face of great danger, he contributed materially to the defeat and virtual annihilation of a Japanese regiment.
I knew Billie Jo Crumpton. Well after the War he was very active in his community teaching and assisting teaching the illiterate to read and write. He also took many reading classes himself just to improve himself because he understood that he would never stop learning. He always stood up for the weak and defenseless and never backed down from a confrontation. I attended his funeral and can honestly say there was not a dry eye present. When Taps was performed it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.