We all have fond memories of Father Crawford who helped us get the ACS “Teenagers” baseball team going.
I came across an article written by Joe Dantonio of World Airways, recalling his memories of his part in the 1975 Orphan Airlift from the Oakland Station point of view. In it he mentions the arrival of Father Crawford with his entire *flock* from Viet-nam.
Here is an exert from the article …
” … The 727 arrival was emotional in a different way. Polio still ran rampant in Viet Nam. No one there had ever heard of Jonas Salk or his vaccine. The result was some terribly disfigured children that found refuge in an orphanage run by an American Priest by the name of Father Crawford. As the infrastructure of Viet Nam collapsed, Father Crawford sought alternative arrangements for his charges. An orphanage in Oregon was closed and standing idle. Father Crawford and his entire flock, including the children, the Nuns, and other personnel were flown to Oakland by World Airways and transported to Oregon by bus. Many of these children were old enough to be suspicious of everyone in the strange environment they were entering. I was particularly impressed by the Mother Superior, who with exceptional dignity and warmth, dealt with everyone’s apprehensions. On arrival, one of the flight attendants felt compelled to converse with Mother Superior in academic French. Mother Superior was trying to console the children in Vietnamese and speaking to me in perfect English. Needless to say, French was soon eliminated from the communications circle.
The Father Crawford flight involvement spanned a comparatively few hours, but also left a permanent memory of how fortunate I have been. … ”
If you’d like to read the entire article Click Here.
Father Crawford brought 305 children out of Viet-nam, according to most reports.
Other bits and pieces about Father Crawford.
” … Rev. Robert Crawford, a Vincentian priest from Philadelphia who is pastor of Regina Pacis Church … ”
” … Regina Pacis Church is the one most frequented by foreign Catholics, particularly English-speaking Catholics, in Saigon. …”
” … Institutions directed from Regina Pacis Church include an orphanage with 300 children, a rehabilitation clinic for young polio victims and a school with nine grades, all staffed by nuns. … ”
” … an article by Father Robert Crawford in the Mindzenty Report, a conservative Catholic newsletter, recalls a great success story. Father Crawford, who rescued handicapped children when Saigon fell, said one boy, paralyzed from the waist down and uneducated, blossomed in the United States. The boy finished 12 years of school in five and went on to earn a doctorate in biochemistry. He is now a scientist at a major university. … ”
Some reports say Father Crawford first went to Oregon … other accounts say he took the children to Arizona establishing an orphanage there until he was able to find people to adopt the children after which he returned to Viet-nam … most accounts concur that he did in fact return to Viet-nam after it was under Communist rule. There seem to be conflicting reports as to what happened to him between the time he and his flock departed from Oakland, by bus, heading for Oregon. I’ve not been able to establish a time line of when he returned to Viet-nam, exactly. One report says a Father Bob Crawford was imprisoned in China, but does not say when.
I’ve often wondered how he found time to come to our baseball practices and games, given all the other things he was involved with in Saigon.
As always, you are welcome to leave your Comments below.
Bob
Bob, I have a lot of information and letters from Fr. Crawford. In late 1973, I quit my job as a photo analyst with the C.I.A. and had moved to Idaho Falls where I got a temporary job closing out sub-contracts for a company called Aerojet Nuclear Company who was a contractor for the Atomic Energy Company. It was while we were in Idaho that we got word from my Mother (Vertie) that Fr. Crawford was in need of financial help. She had been in correspondence with him over the years since leaving Saigon.
Maybe these early letters from Father Crawford explains it.
In the late spring of 1974, I went to work as a carpenter in Anaconda, Montana. We would continue to send at least five dollars a month to Father Crawford. Other friends and relatives would also do the same. My Aunt Ruth in Anaconda was a great solicitor. She got her daughter Ruth (my cousin) in Irving, Texas involved. She and her husband Ray were very active in their church and got the Catholic Daughter and the Knights of Columbus donating. When my cousin died, Ray sent me all the correspondence between them and Father Crawford. In the material that he sent me, were several articles about the exodus from Saigon.
In the spring of 1975, my wife and I decided that I was going back in the military. While I was finishing up my present obligations at work and preparing for a new adventure, I found out that Father Crawford had landed with some Vietnamese kids in Oakland. We started watching the news and finally got word that they had gone to Mount Angel, Oregon. After about three days of calling, I was able to get a hold of Father Crawford. (Remember, we did not have google back then!) We chatted at some length…about family stuff…we even talked about our dog Gigi who had been born in Saigon in 1961 and that Father Crawford’s male Poodle named Sputnik was the father (Gigi lived for over sixteen years). Father Crawford then told me about some of his adventure on getting out of Saigon.
He, Fr. Crawford, had become friends with the President of World, an Irish-American Catholic by the name of Mr. Daly. Mr. Daly had already become noted for his last plane out of DaNang where he and others were attempting to beat back the Arvn soldiers from boarding the plane.
Father Crawford and Mr. Daly decided that the only way they could get the children out of Vietnam was to sneak them out. The US military had not been too successful with operation “Baby Lift” and the South Vietnam government was becoming nonfunctional. They took all the kids to a restaurant in Saigon with the pretext that they were having a party. They snuck the kids out a back door where they hid them in trucks (or buses…I cannot remember what he said). They drove to Ton Son Thut where they bribed the Vietnamese guards and got the kids on to a World Airways plane. The Ton Son Thut Tower denied them takeoff, which they ignored. Fathered Crawford said he said, “What are they going to do…shoot us down?” They flew to Oakland where US Customs and Immigration met them. The Government was at first talking about penalties, fines and whatever, but decide to drop everything because of public opinion.
Father Crawford new a retired Army Col. by the name of Lambert who had moved to Oregon. With his help, they got the kids to Oregon where they would live in a Beer hall and on Col Lambert’s property.
I asked Father Crawford if I should drive out to Oregon and help (I could spare about a month before reporting for military duty). I could wash dishes, do laundry or whatever. He said no that they had too many people, but they really needed money. Many others would contribute to the cause for about another two years. Father Crawford would then have the kids settled in and informed us they no longer needed the funds.
Bob, I have more information to pass on about Father Crawford… Articles and letters…but I am tired of typing … language and typing is not a strong suit of mine. Maybe I can get it done in the next few days. I can also let you know what Father Crawford did for the next several years … until is death from Cancer. Just before the SaigonKids Reunion in 2000, I called his “Order” in PA and found out about his death. I guess he went through a tremendous amount of pain before he died.
Later bud…Frank
Frank – TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!! – 🙂
In searching the Internet for information on Father Crawford I’ve found very limited information so far.
I’m thinking (I know – dangerous – lol) that perhaps we could, over the next few months, compile everything we can gather up about Father Crawford into a *Tribute* to him, possibly in the form of an eBook or video presentation about one of the many, many *little known heroes* of the Viet-nam era – 🙂
Maybe other SKs could contribute their experiences, memories and stories about Father Crawford, also.
Now I’m wondering if his church and orphanage are still functioning in Viet-nam. If so, perhaps Saigon Kids could become supporters. Just a passing thought – 🙂
Hmmm .. ?? … Col. Lambert – I’m now wondering if this was one of my Unlces on my mother’s side. When we were living in Hawaii a few years before we went to Saigon, I remember visiting one of my mother’s uncles and his family (Lambert’s) who lived in Wahiawa. He was in the Army stationed at Schofield. His son Larry (my 2nd cousin) and I used to ride motor cycles and horses all over the pineapple field, and hike way back up into the mountians in the Army’s jungle warfare training area (off limits, I know – lol) to go fishing in the streams and rivers that fed the Wahiawa resevoirs. They only lived about a block from the border of the jungle warfare training area in Wahiawa. We had a place were we could *slip under* the 10 ft. high fence then slide down the hill into the valley below. We’d then follow a stream up into the mountains for about a 1/2 day hike to a water fall. Just below the water fall was a small island in the middle of the stream which made a nice camp site for us. Just below the island there was a deep area of the stream. Made a great swimming hole. We made a rope swing hanging from a tree growing out of the side of the cliff on one side of the hole … so we could swing out and drop into the water – lol. The streams back in that area were rarely, if ever, visit by people. You could literally reach in with your hands and pick up fish … 4-5 lb. bass, as well as, sunfish, talapia, etc. There were all kinds of fruits growing in there too, bread fruit, quava, bananas, mountain apples, etc. We’d hike in there in the summer time and stay for a week or two living mostly off the land. We really didn’t have to pack in much in the way of food. The vegetation grew so fast in there (rain forrest) we had to chop our trail in, then it would be completely over grown by the time we’d hike out … and, we’d have to chop our way back out – lol. Wild pigs and packs of wild Poi Dogs were the only hazards that existed. Praise the Lord for WWII surplus jungle hammocks that kept us high enough off the ground that if a pack of wild poi dogs raided our camp site in the middle of the night … they couldn’t get to us – lol.
So, now I’ll have to do some research on my uncle to see if he is the one who give Father Crawford a helping hand – I’ve not been in touch with my cousin since the mid-1960s. Last I heard he was a Grain Broker in Chicago.
The World Airways’ web site linked to in the above Post mentions Mr. Daly and a little about his helping Father Crawford, if you surf around the site a little – 🙂
The site also mentions about how the pilot *broke all the rules* to fly the plane out of Viet-nam. I think, if I recall correct, it also tells about how he had *broke all the rules* flying out of China during or after WWII, also.
*Angels* come in mysterious forms sometimes – 🙂
Thanks!!!! for all the information on Father Crawford.
Rock Onnnnnn … 🙂
Bob
Bob, Looking quickly on the Internet, there still seems to be Lamberts in that part of Oregon. Here is my next installment….
Note from Frank … Saigon would fall about a week later …. I have a few more letters I’ll try to type up. I could not locate anything in Saigon websites, but perhaps I should contact Fr. Crawford’s order someday and see if they can help. Unfortunately when I was in Saigon last year, I did not go over to the church.
Frank – for the live of me I can’t remember that uncle’s (Lambert) first name – lol. While both our families were living in Hawaii (1956-58/59) is the only time I ever knew them. I’d never known them before then, and never had contact with them after that, even tho I’m sure my parents kept in touch with them over the years.
After leaving Hawaii the only thing I remember is in the early/mid 1960s my grand mother told me one time that cousin Larry had dropped out of school in the 11th grade, then moved to Chicago where he became a grain broker at the Chicago Board of Trade, and had become very successful at it. He married a beautiful girl, had two kids, then one week end they where taking their boat up to their summer cottage on the lake and were involved in an automobile accident. Larry surrived with minor injuries, but his wife and both kids were killed in the accident. I had tried to look him up when I was living and working in Chicago in the mid to late 1960s, but found that shortly after the accident he moved from the Chicago area. I never did learn where too tho.
I’m sending an email to my mother’s sister this week end to find out about cousin Larry and his parents. She is the only one in the family still living that will know all the details of that arm of the family.
The newspaper article says Lambert had known Father Crawford in Saigon in 1955. I don’t know if my uncle’s was in Saigon in 1955 or not. He was in Hawaii in 1957/58 I know, and they had a 4 year tour there. But, I don’t really know much else. His wife (my aunt) was, if I remember correctly, either the daughter or grand daughter of one of my grand mother’s sisters (on my mother’s side of the family).
It’ll be interesting to see if the Lambert who knew Father Crawford was my uncle or not. If it was, WOW, what a small world!!! – 🙂
Reading the information you’ve posted so far, it is easy to understand now why most of the information found on the Internet is very vague about what took place while Father Crawford was taking the kids out of Viet-nam and getting them settled in Oregon, etc.
Now I’m wondering, did they rename the *Beer Hall* – Ba Muoi Ba – OR – 33 Export (after all it was an ‘export’ kind of situation in a way) – LOL – 🙂
One can only imagine how hard it must be for people like Father Crawford with so, so many, many who need help and assistance, but only being able to help so very few of the 1000s that come to them for help … which one’s do you help, and to which one’s do you say, “I’m sorry but I’m not able to help you” too?! And, how difficult it must be to turn away people who are so desperately in need of help.
From Father Crawford … Mt. Angel, Oregon 97362 … no date …
Bob,
That would be something if you were related to the Lambert mentioned … regardless, maybe it is time to connect with more of your relatives.
Here is another installment … Hope some folks find it interesting.
Frank
I still have so many letters from Father Crawford, but unless I run across ones with more information, this will be the last I type and send.
My understanding … Father Crawford would be sent to New Guinea where he would do some missionary work. He then was able to get assigned to the Philippine Islands where he lived and worked in a Vietnamese refugee camp helping others … especially the boat people.
I am not aware of him ever being able to return to the country that he called his home and loved so very much.
As far as China … perhaps this is the more actuate story …
When my family lived in Iran (1954-59), an American Catholic priest arrived in ’55. His name was Father Williams (he is mentioned in the book “On Wings of Eagles”). Father Williams had lived in China for over twenty years, and in fact when he arrived in Iran he still thaught in Chinese and not English.
Father Williams had spent several years imprisoned by the Japanese and then by the Communists before getting “booted” out of his beloved China.
In 1959, when Dad came down on orders for Vietnam, Father Williams contacted Father Crawford in Saigon. Both Father Williams and Father Crawford had crossed paths in China in the forties or fifties and thus my folks were in correspondence with Fr. Crawford before arriving in Saigon. Perhaps Father Crawford had been imprisoned in China before he ever got to Vietnam … of what I think was 1954.
Yes, Father Crawford was quite the lad himself … I think his BMW, with an electric starter, was the first motorcycle I ever drove. He would always let me bum cigarettes from him and he was always available to help out with our ball team. He could do one arm hand stands … he spoke his mind … and yet was gentle.
After our game with Navy – we lost sixteen to one. I was so pleased that I got the point with an in the park home run. Father Crawford came over and said, “boy you were lucky, Blackie (The Navy pitcher) sure gave you that pitch!”
Well … here is Father Crawford in his own words…again!!!
Frank – THANK YOU again for your most welcome contributions about Father Crawford. Very much appreciated!!
I’m still digesting all the bits and pieces of information I’ve come across about Father Crawford, mostly contained in other documents, reports, and accounts pertaining to other people and events … a couple sentences here, a couple there … kind of thing.
But, it would seem to make sense that Father Crawford was in China before going to Viet-nam. The same pilot who flew the plane bring Father Crawford and his flock out of Viet-nam had also *broken all the rules* after WWII to fly a Priest and orphans out of China. I think it may have been Father Williams, but I’d have to go back an research it to document that as fact. I read a very brief few words in some document I was reading that said, “… Father Crawford and another Priest were imprisoned in China …” – this may well have been when Father Williams and Father Crawford crossed paths in China. My assumption is this would have probably taken place sometime between the end of WWII and 1954 during the early years of the Red Guard taking control of China, etc.
Maybe if you have a few mintues sometime in the future, you could contact his *Order* in PA. and inquire if he ever retuned to Viet-nam or not.
Again, thank you so very, very much for all the information you’ve provided so far. It really helps to clarify and tie together all the very limited bits and pieces of information available on the Internet about his journey with the kids out of Viet-nam and resettlement in the USA.
If anyone else has information about Father Crawford, please feel free to share it with the rest of us – 🙂
Hello all! This priest is my uncle Bob. He was a great man, but I didnt see him often growing up for obvious reasons. I can look for more info but I do know he was imprisoned in China for quite some time. He also was in Borneo and Cambodia. I will ask my grandmother who just turned 91 this week, if she has any letters from his correspondence with her husband Charles, Bobs brother. Thank you very much for sharing these letters with me, it means a lot.
Hi John! Thanks for visiting. What a small world it is! Yes, your uncle was a very special man, not only to us Saigon Kids, but to many, many others he helped. It would be wonderful if you can find additional information to fill in some of the gaps about him. Happy birthday wishes to your grandmother from all us Saigon Kids – and may she have many, many, many more!!!
Please feel free to visit often.
Bob
In 1966 when I was in Saigon, we (US troops) used to met with Father Crawford on Saturday nights when he would serve us dinner and drinks. And we inturn would leave a donation. A Father Williams is mentioned above. I knew him in Tehran, Iran in 1970-1972 where he served the Americans that were stationed there. He also served in China.
Hi, I accidentally stumbled upon your fine website while trying to locate information on Father Crawford, a hero of mine.
I met Father Crawford about the time the last remaining Saigon Kids were departing Saigon, February 1965. My Unit arrived at the beginning of December 1964 and a big surprise was seeing American women and children in Saigon. We thought that things could not be that bad with civilians there. A week later Anna’s Bar was blown up; two weeks later the Brink BOQ was in flames; in January a bomb was found at the swimming pool; and my jeep was almost crushed by an ARVN APC during a coup. I really started to wonder why the hell you people were there!
I came to Queen of Peace Church to volunteer and help in any way I could during my off-duty hours. There were about half a dozens NonComs doing volunteer work, guys like Sergeant Major O’Hollerhan, Sergeant Harding, and a Swab named Woody. Saturday afternoons we helped distribute food to refugees whom the sisters of the parish brought in. Sister Martin was the Mother Superior and she called me, “Mr. Joe” which I told her was too formal. She smiled and replied, “Whatever you wish……Mr. Joe.” She then just grinned and I knew that we would do things her way. Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons we spent entertaining the children. Eventually, at the request of Sister Martin I would come once or twice a week in the evenings to teach English to the other nuns.
Father Crawford talked baseball, loved golf, and played some mean handball. After distributing food, we would join him for tea or something stronger in the rectory. He once told me that he had been in China but I do not recall if he or one of the sergeants informed me that he had spent time in a Communist prison. On occasion he had some interesting guests who had deeper insight into what was occurring in-country. One time I spoke to him about a Catholic Vietnamese girl that I had been trying to date for over a month. He laughed and cautioned me that the Vietnamese woman is not like the Japanese woman who walks behind her husband (back in 1965). The Vietnamese woman has a mind of her own and he used examples of the Hai Ba Troung sisters and Madame Nhu, the Dragon Lady.
I kept in touch with father Crawford for several years afterwards but through moves and job changes we lost contact. I am really sorry about that.
Hello *Mr. Joe* – 🙂
Welcome to the site. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your memories of Father Crawford and Viet-nam with everyone. Very much appreciated! Father Crawford holds a special place in our hearts as I’m sure he does in the hearts of the many people who knew him. Yes, he is truly an *unsung* hero of the times.
Again, thanks for visiting. Please feel free to come back often.
Bob
Following is Father Bob Crawford’s obituary in the Philadelphia Inquirer (March 1999).
Father Bob was very close friend to the Chaplains at 3rd Field Hospital. In the Roman Catholic hierarchy for Americans in South Vietnam he was the equivalent of a Bishop, actually higher than the Catholic Military Ordinariate, typically a Army Colonel in the country, and subordinate to the Archbishop of New York at that time.
I have a lot more background on Father Bob from the Vincentians (Congregation of the Mission) in Philadelphia, collected for the biography files at the US Army Chaplain Museum (FT. Jackson, SC).
I will submit more information on a fine person whom I knew in 1968-1969 was a “Living Saint.”
Edward Russell
Catholic Chaplain Assistant
3rd Field Hospital (1968-1969)
Edward – Thank you so very, very much for providing this information about Father Bob Crawford. Very much appreciated!
Yes, he was a *Living Saint*.
We’ll be looking forward to any additional information you can provide about Father Crawford.
Bob
More about Father Bob Crawford:
This is from the Newsletter, undated, of the CONGREGATION OF THE MISSION (The Vincentians), Office of the Provincial, Philadelphia, PA.
Edward – Again, thank you so very, very much. This is the kind of information I’ve been searching for (over the past couple years) about Father Bob Crawford to fill in the gaps as to what actually took place and happened to Father Crawford after us Saigon Kids departed Saigon.
Bob
PART 1 (OF 2 Parts)
End of Part 1 (of 2 Parts)
While I would take nothing from the brave men and women serving in our armed forces to day, the term “Hero” needs to be applied to men like Father Crawford. Like many of the SKs I knew Father Crawford, but what I am reading about him now just leaves me in awe. I am proud just to have known this gentle man.
Hello, I am the public relations manager for the Daughters of Charity, Province of the West. I am piecing together the story of Fr. Crawford and his part in bringing 32 handicapped children and 4 Daughters of Charity to Oakland during April 1975 during the fall of Saigon. I know they landed in Oakland. Fr. Crawford then took the boys to Phoenix, Arizona; the Daughters of Charity resettled the girls at Maryvale in Rosemead ,CA. Sr. Therese Marie who fled Saigon with Fr. Crawford traveled back to the Phillipines with Fr. Crawford after 1975. But none of the Daughters seem to know what happened to him after that. He was an amazing man, no doubt. If I find out more in my research, I will certainly let you know.
Sincerely,
Patricia Smith
patriciasmith[@]dochs.org
650 917-4520
Los Altos Hills, CA
Hello Patricia,
Thank you for visiting and leaving your comments. Father Crawford’s Obituary (above) tells what happened to him after the Philippines. He became ill with cancer after about 12 years in the Philippines and returned home to Philadelphia where he passed away.
Peace be with you
Bob
The above letters and comments have left me deeply touched. Father Bob is my great uncle. I have fond memories of my uncle when he visited us back in the US. His brother Charles is my grandfather and was an extraordinary human being as well.
Heather – Glad you found us and enjoyed the information about your great uncle. Yes, he was a fantastic person who touched the lives of 1000’s of people. The world would be such a wonderful place if everyone was like him.
Please feel free to visit us often and share your memories.
Bob
Hi…I’m Julie and have memories of Father Crawford too.My elder sister, Mimi (Cynthia)and brother Ernie, would probably have more fond memories of him as I was too young then.
AS I look at my old passport–still existing, Feb. 28, 1965, was the year I arrive there with my parents.
On Sunday, November 20,2011,Philippine time,I, together with my daughter, will travel to Saigon and also visit Cambodia. I want to embark on a sentimental journey to the places we stayed and activities we had, and as I was locating some streets, ended up with Bruce Thomas-Saigon Kid for 50 years. I saw the tag of Heather-Fr. Crawford and that is why I am making this reply just to connect.
hope we can share the same memories and experiences because we will pass this life once.
Welcome Julie! We’re happy you found us. Wishing you and your daughter a wonderful and enjoyable *sentimental journey* in Viet Nam and Cambodia.
Please feel free to visit often and share your memories.
Bob
hello ,
hmmm ,
fr.crawford brings back many memories of mt.angel oregon ,vietnam ,my moms house in mt.angel with the energies of fr.bob ,dad(col.harry lambert).orphans ,and caring and helping.
if anyone is intersted I have correspondences between fr.bob n my dad.
sincerely
jpl
Patrick: Suggest you send any significant materials to Fr. Bob’s religious order, The Vincentions, Phillidelphia, PA. c/o the Archivist, Fr. John Carvin; tel. 215-713-2434. He is collecting material on Father Bob. Good luck
Patrick Lambert, please contact me at 503-873-4941. My husband, Bob, and I were friends of your parents and together with Mt. Angel College classmates and locals worked with them on sheltering the Fr. Crawford’s refugees from Vietnam.
My family was assigned by the Foreign Service to Saigon in 1954 to 1958. We were a catholic family and Fr Crawford became our priest and close family friend. My father was a Procurement officer at the new US Embassy during the US build up. Often, things were ordered that ended up with Fr. Crawford (i.e. cars, iceboxes and furniture,etc.). My father and mother thought the world of this priest who really became a true “Saint”. I can now say I knew a real saint. We always wondered about Fr Crawford and with this web site I found out. Thanks,
Rich Tilson
Dear Rich: I am researching Operation Babylift for my own biography as an AID FSO in Saigon during a slightly later time period than yourself. My service dates spanned 1966-1969… with later service in Washington during Operation Babylift and the liftoff from the roof of the Embassy. My research on Fr. Crawford confirms your parents (and your own) regard for Father Bob’s cause for Sainthood. You might prayerfully ask for Father Bob’s intersession for health reasons …or the like. The Vatican requires good records in support of his cause. Father was a good man and spread personal influence to do spiritual works himself, and inspired others to do the same. God knows we need the example of clergy who did real works for children…other than as play things!
Best regards, Bob Ritchie
I came across this website today – the orphan lift obviously brought back memory of the pilot who flew such last flight back to Saigon – Patrick O’Rourke. If you happened to have known more details about this last flight, would greatly appreciate hearing about them. I had worked with this pilot at the time. Thanks!
I was stationed in Saigon with MAAG in 1960 and visited the church each Sunday.
On some weekends we would assist with the construction of the new church. I remember Father Crawford. I always felt good about attending services while he was there. I plan to revisit Vietnam in April 2014 and hope to visit the church.
Hi! I am a dentist in Salem India. I went to the Philippines as a volunteer dentist in 1990 and served in the Palawan First Asylum Camp. I became a good friend of Fr Crawford who used to tell me about the the big orphan evacuation from Saigon in 1975.
We first met in the camp when he came to have one of his teeth fixed. He then invited me home ( a hut like cottage) in the refugee camp. Fr Crawford was a great raconteur and we had several nice stories about Vietnam. I heard that he left Vietnam a year orso later. I do not remember him saying he returned to Vietnam after 1975.
I think I have a few photapraghs of us together. I cantry to find them. It is nearly 25 years since our meeting!
George Paul, It is amazing how great people have an impact on so many of us. I don’t think we really see history at the time of the event, but it really shines when looking back.
Fifty-two years ago today, September 18, 1962, Dale Purtle and I were married in the late afternoon by Father Crawford at Cite Marie-Paul in Saigon. Attendants were Claire Breckon, wife of FSO Lyall Breckon and Robert Hahang, a bank official. FSO Kenneth Rogers and his wife Millicent hosted our wedding reception at their home.
Dale was assigned by the Department of State to the Embassy in Phnom Penh as the Regional Language Supervisor for Southeast Asia, including Peace Corps language programs, traveling throughout seven countries. He chose for us to be married in Saigon, and liked riding as a passenger on Father’s motorcycle!! Dale just died August 30, 2014, at age 89.
Never having traveled out of the US, this was a huge step for me….more than only marriage. We had a wonderful life together for almost 52 years…..beginning and blessed by Father Crawford.
Mazie (Velda Mae Primas) Purtle
Mazie, thanks for sharing this special memory of Father Crawford. I am sure that he has been sitting in heaven beaming for many years, knowing that the blessing he bestowed on you and Dale at your wedding endured throughout such a long and loving life for the two of you. My condolences to you on Dale’s recent death. But I like to imagine that he and Father Crawford have reunited in heaven, and that they are sharing a ride together on Father’s celestial cycle!
I am very grateful for all comments on father bob Crawford,c.m. I was one of his boys. He has a significant impacts in each of us. His faith,his kindness,his love had helped us to grow up in the midst of war, sufferings. He was a living saint. There is no doubt in our minds that he is with God now. He had brought God ,and saint. Vincent de Paul in our life. We are missing you, father Crawford
Long, we have lost contact with you since your visit many years ago. Please drop me a line at huynhduong57 [@] hotmail.com. I am now a faculty at the University of Utah, Department of Neurology
It is wonderful to have found this online community discussion on Father Robert Crawford. I am one of Father Crawford’s boys too. Father Crawford had a great impact on my life! For in the United States, I started living! I began my education starting from 5th to graduate school. I was the boy Father described in one his letters about an uneducated paraplegic boy going back school all the way to graduate school! Throughout my schooling, Father Crawford was a source of inspiration. He would visit and encouraged me at every step! My success later in life is all due to Father Crawford. In 1993, after finishing graduate school, I decided to come back to Viet Nam to visit my mother and siblings in Hoi An, Quang Nam after more than 20 years lost. Father Crawford decided to accompany me for he feared that I might encounter trouble navigating the roads in Viet Nam. At the time, and even now, Viet Nam is not very accessible for people with wheelchair. I took a flight on the Philippine Airline to Manila, and then Father Crawford and I took a flight to the Tan Son Nhat Airport in Saigon, where we left under darkness in April 1975. Unfortunately, the Philippine National Airline forgot to load my wheelchair on the same flight. I was forced to borrow a wheelchair that was took bid and the wheels were loosingfrom the Viet Nam Airline. It took us several trips to the Philippine Air Office at Tan Son Nhat Airport to get back my wheelchair. On one of those trips, an Philippine Manager was so rude to me that Father was so furious and angry. He gave the manager a lesson to remember. I had never seen Father Crawford that much angry after so many years knowing him. The manager treated me much better in subsequent trips to the Philippine Air to get my wheelchairs. I did not take a flight on Philippine Air again [the Philippine National Air was dissolved a few years later]. In Saigon, I met my two adult brothers, who was 5 and 8 when I left 20 years ago.
After getting back my wheelchair, we-Father. my brothers, and I- took drive on a van to Hoi An, Quang Nam after hearing the VietNam Air Tu airplanes were not very safe to fly. It took more than 30 hours drive on Highway 1, which was then in very bad shape. Father met my mother the first and only time. [[During my last visit two week prior to his pass away, with great effort and difficulty in talking, Father asked me the health of my mother!]]. During our 30 hrs trip, Father and I conversed on many topics from life, religion (I believe in Buddhism), politics, and my goal in life. The man was a reader of many books and had so much experience in life that it was a joy to converse with him. In conclusion, Father Crawford had given me a new life with purpose and his advice I still try to follow! One of which I will always cherish is be good to others!
For me, Father Crawford never left! He is always in my memory!
Duong, None of us can even come close to realizing what you have gone through. It is so wonderful that you drove yourself, with your humility, to accomplish so much. Your home town of Hoi An is probably the neatest place in Vietnam. I really hope to revisited it someday. I hope you and others from your flight, consider seeing us in Maine for the 2017 reunion. Frank
Father Crawford also saved my life. I was born in Saigon in March 1964. I have recently discovered who my birthmother is through Ancestry DNA. My mother, Bernadette Radda, was married to a man who was working in Saigon and stationed there with her 4 children. It appears that she was pregnant with me, by another man. I believe she sought Fr. Crawford’s help in having me adopted into a loving household. (My adoptive parents were stationed in Cambodia.) I believe Fr. Crawford was able to copy a Vietnamese birth certificate for me in order to cover up the real story. (It listed me with a Vietnamese name, Phan Thi Huong, born to a Vietnamese mother, Phan Thi Khan. However, I recently did a DNA test and have no Vietnamese blood. I believe he was helping the original Phan Thi Huong to be adopted and copied her birth certificate.) I wonder if I could assume that she would have gone to Station hospital to give birth to me, before she ‘lost’ me. Also, does anyone know a Phan Thi Huong.
It has been wonderful to read all the stories about Fr. Crawford. I feel very blessed that my life touched his!
Angelique Kenney
I’m not one of the kids in this forum. But every word written by anyone this chain has moved me more than I could handle.
It happened that I was looking for any piece of Doung online after hearing a stunningly sad news: Duong Phuoc Huynh Ph.D. (Huynh Phuoc Duong) has passed away in Vietnam in July 2018, right after he made another visit to his aging Mom.
I grew up from the same area with Duong. We met and talked about almost everything. We plan to meet up at home in early 2019. Sorry for delivering the sad news. I just talked to one of his Aunts in US, what an inspiring person!
There are always people in this life living forever in our memory, like Father Crawford, his followers, Duong, etc.
Hung Nguyen
Hung: Welcome and thank you for visiting our site and sharing your information and memories about Duong. Yes he was a wonderful man and will always be remembered by those who’s life he touched. Please stop back often and feel free to share with the rest of us.
May your holidays be filled with many blessings.
Bob
Hi Bob,
It’s been a long time since ???ng passed away. I hope you and all are well! The pandemic has changed millions of lives, left behind so much scars to people, no ending in the horizon. Time like this, we read again the exchange about the kind hearts. I’m sure you and I realize the true meaning of life and appreciate it more. I love the stories about Father Crawford.
Please take care and be safe.
California, March 2021
Does anyone have any idea where Fr. Crawford’s Church in Saigon was located. My wife and I were married by Fr. Crawford at Queen of Peace church in Saigon in 1972. We ars going back to Vietnam in April of 2022 which would be our 50th anniversary and we would like to find the location even if the church is no longer there.
Thank you.
42 Tú X??ng street.
Dave, I was told that the address is still at 42 Tú X??ng street, Saigon.
42 Tu Xuong Street