World War II veteran reaches milestone
CHICORA — RIchard “Dick” Craig of Chicora hit one milestone on St. Patrick’s Day and now he’s aiming to top it.
At an Irish-themed green-bedecked open house Saturday at Chicora Fire Hall, 202 W Slippery Rock St., Craig’s family and friends gathered to celebrate his 100th birthday.
“I’m Irish too. I was born on an Irish day,” said Craig, who declared his intention to celebrate his 101st next year.
Born March 17, 1923, in Chicora, Craig said he worked at Pullman Standard in Butler until he was drafted into the Army Air Corps at the height of World War II in 1943.
“We went to Pittsburgh for a physical, and an officer gave us a talking. He said ”You’re in the Army, but you are going home for a week. Behave yourself,’“ Craig said with a smile.
He was shipped to a training facility, Kearns Army Air Base in Utah, for basic training and then underwent further training at Geiger Field in Spokane, Wash.
“I took more training to be a medic. I ended up being a dental assistant and went overseas to New Guinea in the South Pacific,” he said as a member of the 1879th Aviation Engineers. He later was sent to Manila in the Philippines after the islands were liberated from the Japanese.
Craig will always remember the day he was discharged from the military, Christmas Day 1945.
Returning to Butler County, he went back to work at Pullman Standard until he was laid off in 1946.
Craig said he then went to work for Dunmyre Motor Express Craig joked he enjoyed driving a tractor-trailer “so I could push people off the road.”
When Dunmyre closed down, Craig switched to driving school buses, a job he kept until he was 81 in 2004. “My license (bus driver’s license) was up. That was the last job I had,” he said.
“When I started driving school buses I really got an education,” he said.
He married Elisabeth Barnhart on Sept. 7, 1946, in Evans City. She is deceased.
He has four children, Richard Craig Jr., Danny Craig, Charles Craig Sr. and Scott Craig, all of Chicora.
He also has nine grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.
He always lived in Chicora or nearby in Goosetown. He belonged to Chicora United Methodist Church, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and the Chicora Fire Department.
The wife of his youngest son, Scott, Sherri Craig, who lives next to him in Chicora, said her father-in-law still lives alone and takes care of himself.
“We keep him going. We go out every Sunday,” she said. “He said he wanted to live to be 100, and we said you can make it if you do what we ask you.”
She credits his remaining active with his continued good health.
“He’s a little forgetful, but he loves to talk about the past,” she said.
Members of Chicora American Legion Post 642 dropped by the open house to present Craig with a plaque thanking him for his military service.
“I welcome everyone coming and all the cards I received. I really appreciate it,” Craig said.
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