100-year-old veteran serves again
WAYNESBURG – At the respectable age of 100, Paul Crayne of Waynesburg is officially Greene County’s oldest veteran.
On Saturday, he was the grand marshal of the Waynesburg Veterans Day Parade and those who turned out to march and to watch had a chance to wish him the best as he rode in the parade with his son Larry, a Vietnam veteran.
Crayne was a 30-year-old married man when he was drafted into World War II in 1943. He left behind his wife, Wanita, and 2-year-old daughter, Connie, when he shipped off to the Far East to help build the Burma Road.
And some 70 years later, he still remembers the heat of Calcutta, the freezing cold of flying a transport plane through the Himalayas and the brutal, almost impassable Burma Road. “Some of the trucks had to back up to get around curves.”
He also remembers when his convoy was forced to ford the river while riding into Hi Fong, Vietnam. The Japanese had blown up the bridges the day before and they were now on the front line and under attack. It never came, but “I got the Bronze Star for that one.”
Paul and Wanita, 97, still live in the same little white house overlooking Ten Mile Creek on Route 188.
Wanita feels that the wives who stayed home while their men were away deserve a medal, too.
“I had to take in washing to make ends meet. We only received $30 a month to live on, and it wasn’t easy to live on that,” she declared.
On Veterans Day 2012, the Disabled American Veterans gave the Craynes a new flag to fly from the front porch and the American Legion honored Paul with a 100th birthday celebration at the Legion hall in Waynesburg March 17.
There were many government officials and dignitaries on hand to pay tribute to Paul’s years of service to his country and congratulate him for his longevity and his 75-year marriage.
The American Legion has a Veterans Day program planned for 3 p.m. today at the Legion hall, 676 E. High St., Waynesburg. Shawn Cole, a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Navy and the Pennsylvania National Guard, will be the speaker, and refreshments will be served afterward.
The public is invited to attend and honor veterans on this dedicated day.