WR celebrates WWII Vet’s 100th birthday

The year is 1921. The world is still recovering from World War I. Although the war ended in 1918, America will sign a treaty officially ending the war for themselves. The U.S. is eight years away from going into one of the greatest recessions it has or ever will see. Babe Ruth sets his 138th homerun record in June, breaking Roger Connor’s, which had stood for 23 solid years. And in the little town of Leitchfield, Kentucky, Crawford Hicks was born, on February 10. It was a Thursday.

Fast forward a full century, 100 whole years, and the city of Warner Robins is celebrating the same man with a drive-by parade, put together by his neighbors, June Lowe and Debbie Krafft.

According to the short bio that Krafft wrote after speaking to Hicks and reading his autobiography, he’s has done a lot in his 100 years. He lived as a child through the Great Depression. Then when World War II struck, he was there, flying B-17s over Germany. He was shot down on May 30, 1944 and was held as a prisoner of war for 11 months. That didn’t stop him. On April 29 of 1945, he was released by General Patton himself.

After his time in the military, Hicks returned to his home state of Kentucky, married, had kids and entered law school.

That, however, did not last long. He returned to the military in 1951, when he was recalled back into the U.S. Air Force to take part in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. He stayed there for 16 years until he retired.

For a while, he worked in the U.S. Office of Housing and Urban Development. When he was 63, he started his law practice, originally in Atlanta, then in Macon, until 2003.

Hicks also spent much of his time working within his community with the ROTC and school groups, as well as the Museum of Aviation.

In 2019, Hicks was presented the Department of Defense POW Medal by Air Force Chief of Staff, General Norton Schwartz.

That’s a lot of hours put in, a lot of work, and a lot of life lived. It’s also a lot of reasons to celebrate a man’s 100th birthday. It definitely shows.

On Wednesday, hundreds of neighbors and friends, many with decorated cars and billowing flags, drove by Hicks’ house as he and Edna Hicks, his wife, sat outside. Hicks also had many communities and government departments drive by in his honor, like the Warner Robins Fire and Police Departments, The Warner Robins Jeep Club, and the mayor of Warner Robins himself, Mr. Randy Toms. Even the neighborhood’s mail carrier drove by with a couple of birthday balloons bobbing along as he passed by.

This wasn’t a parade that came together without work. His neighbors, Lowe and Krafft put in plenty.

“It started out just being a neighborhood event, and then it just sort of grew from there,” Krafft said with a laugh, “because he is much more known and loved in our community, in the greater community, than just throughout our neighbors. Lots of people wanted to participate.”

According to Krafft, the work originally started with Lowe. “She originally is the one who was aware of Crawford Hicks and his upcoming birthday. Because of her involvement in the Aviation Museum, she was much more aware of who he was and his history.”

Together, Lowe and Krafft worked to provide Hicks with a special birthday celebration, even if COVID-19 wasn’t willing to relent to allow a party. With plenty of phone calls and called in favors, these neighbors were able to give Hicks a birthday he’s likely to remember.

“I’m just very happy that the community came together to honor such a fine person, and to celebrate his life. I hope he has many, many more years to celebrate life,” Krafft said.

To learn more about Hicks, you can read his autobiography of some of his time in the military in Prisoner of War: Memoirs of Crawford E. Hicks.

Happy centennial, Mr. Crawford Hicks.

HHJ News