Demas T . Craw Demas Thurlow " Nick " Craw ( April 9 , 1900 – November 8 , 1942 ) was a United States Army Air Forces officer and a recipient of the United States military ' s highest decoration — the Medal of Honor — for his actions in World War II . Craw and Maj . Pierpont M . Hamilton were the first Army Air Forces recipients of the Medal in the European - Mediterranean theater of World War II and the only AAF members to be awarded that decoration for valor not involving air combat . Biography . Craw was born in Long Lake Township , Michigan , to Mark Craw , a game warden , and his wife Clara . He was twin brother to Theron Craw , who died in a hunting accident in 1927 . A younger sister , Jane , became a registered nurse and served in the Army Nurse Corps during World War II . The twins attended Traverse City public schools , but dropped out of Traverse City Central High School during World War I to enlist in the United States Army on April 18 , 1918 , at Columbus Barracks , Ohio . Craw was sent to Camp Stanley , Texas , for training with the 12th Cavalry , then transferred to Columbus , New Mexico , on the border with Mexico . He was promoted to private first class in November 1918 and sent to Machine Gun School at Camp Hancock , Georgia . There he applied for and was selected to attend the Central Officer ’ s Training School at Camp Gordon , Georgia . In the demobilization of the Army following the Armistice , Craw was discharged on February 15 , 1919 , but re - enlisted three months later in the infantry at Grand Rapids , Michigan . Assigned as a recruiter , he was promoted to corporal , but continued to pursue a commission . At Camp Zachary Taylor , Kentucky , where he was attached to the 2nd Field Artillery Regiment , Craw undertook a two - month preparatory course in February 1920 for entry into the United States Military Academy . Returning to Grand Rapids afterward , Craw was discharged on May 14 and entered West Point on July 1 , 1920 . While attending the Military Academy he received his lifelong nickname of " Nick " , shortened from " Nicodemus " ( a word play on his given name ) , and developed an ambition to fly . However an eye injury incurred while playing polo nearly ended his aviation career . Craw graduated on June 12 , 1924 , ranked 371 in general order of merit in his class of 405 members , and was commissioned as a second lieutenant , Coast Artillery Corps . Air Corps service . After his eye injury healed , he applied for pilot training with the Air Service on March 13 , 1926 . In August , he began Primary and Basic flight training at Brooks Field , Texas , went on to Advanced at Kelly Field on February 28 , 1927 , where he received a rating of Airplane Pilot on August 12 , 1927 . Craw joined the 1st Pursuit Group at Selfridge Field , Michigan , transferred his commission to the Air Corps on March 21 , 1928 , and was promoted to first lieutenant on January 3 , 1930 . Craw returned to the Air Corps Training Center at San Antonio , Texas , as an instructor of Basic Flight training at Duncan Field , and was reassigned in January 1929 , to instruct Advanced Flight Training . In June 1930 , Craw was briefly assigned to Mitchel Field , New York , to await a four - year tour with the 19th Pursuit Squadron at Wheeler Field , Territory of Hawaii . There he met Mary Victoria ( " Vicki " ) Wesson , daughter of the president of the Smith & Wesson Firearms Company . They married in 1931 , and had one son , Nicholas . Craw commanded the 19th PS from August 4 , 1932 , to the end of his tour and returned to Mitchel Field on September 15 , 1934 . He was promoted to captain on April 20 , 1935 . In September 1937 , Craw was assigned as a student to the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field , Alabama , graduating June 20 , 1938 . His next billet was as Inspector General and Assistant Intelligence Officer , General Headquarters Air Force , at Langley Field , Virginia . On March 11 , 1940 , Craw was promoted to major . His tour at Langley included temporary duty as an air observer for the War Department in the Netherlands East Indies , China , Romania , and India . In October 1940 , Craw traveled to Cairo , Egypt , as an observer to the Royal Air Force . During combat against Italy in Libya , he was slightly wounded , and with the onset of the Greco - Italian War , went to Athens as assistant military attaché . He reportedly came under fire 136 times and participated in twenty - one RAF bombing sorties during the assignments . When the German army invaded Greece in April 1941 , Craw was captured and interned for six weeks , until exchanged at Sofia , Bulgaria , and was awarded the Order of George I ( Officer class ) by the King of Greece . He returned to Egypt and observed the campaign against the Afrika Korps in June 1941 , then was assigned as deputy executive officer of the II Bomber Command at Fort George Wright , Washington . On November 15 , 1941 , he was promoted to lieutenant colonel , and on March 1 , 1942 , after the United States entered the war , to colonel . In October , Craw was named air officer for Maj . General Lucian K . Truscott , commanding one of the sub - task forces , " Force Goalpost " , of Operation Torch , an amphibious invasion of North Africa . He sailed with the invasion force from Virginia and while en route , volunteered to assist another Army Air Forces officer , Maj . Pierpont M . Hamilton , Truscott ' s intelligence officer , in delivering a message to the local French commander near Port Lyautey , French Morocco , to broker a cease fire , should French forces resist . Medal of Honor action . On November 8 , 1942 , French forces resisted Allied landing operations and Craw undertook the mission with Hamilton . The officers intended to land at a jetty on the Sebou River near French headquarters , but the alerted French defenders began shelling the landing force , and they instead came ashore with the first wave of " Goalpost " landing craft carrying troops of the 2nd Battalion , 60th Regimental Combat Team . After disembarking on Green Beach before dawn , and still under hostile fire from shore batteries , the officers commandeered a small truck . They were strafed by French aircraft when it became stuck in a muddy marsh . After the truck was extricated by a detachment of combat engineers , they attempted to continue their mission but were forced to return to the beach when caught in the exchanges of French artillery and naval gunfire from Task Group 34 . 8 of the United States Navy . When Truscott expressed misgivings about the mission , Craw convinced him to allow them to continue . They located a jeep and enlisted its driver , Pfc . Orris V . Correy , to cross through the French lines . Craw carried unfurled American and French flags , and Hamilton a white flag , in an attempt to safeguard their passage . At dawn the officers reached the jetty that was to have been their original starting point . After several contacts with French troops to obtain directions , and requesting a guide ( which was refused ) , the jeep proceeded cautiously approximately six miles into Port Lyautey . As they came over a rise on the outskirts near the French headquarters , a hidden machine gun position took them under sustained fire and killed Craw instantly with a burst to the chest . Hamilton and Correy were both captured , but Hamilton eventually completed the mission and arranged the surrender of French forces . Craw was awarded the Medal of Honor four months later , on March 4 , 1943 , for his part in the mission . Hamilton was also awarded the Medal of Honor in January , 1943 . Legacy . The military airfield at Port Lyautey was named Craw Field in 1943 . Other entities named in commemoration were : Demas T Craw Marker Mehdia Beach Morocco 1952 / Current location or existence unknown . This is the only photo believed to exist of the marker . Awards and decorations . Senior pilot World War II Victory Medal Royal Order of George I ( Greece ) Observer Badge Citation . Colonel Craw ' s official Medal of Honor citation reads : For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty . On November 8 , 1942 , near Port Lyautey , French Morocco , Col . Craw volunteered to accompany the leading wave of assault boats to the shore and pass through the enemy lines to locate the French commander with a view to suspending hostilities . This request was first refused as being too dangerous but upon the officer ' s insistence that he was qualified to undertake and accomplish the mission he was allowed to go . Encountering heavy fire while in the landing boat and unable to dock in the river because of shell fire from shore batteries , Col . Craw , accompanied by 1 officer and 1 soldier , succeeded in landing on the beach at Mehdia Plage under constant low - level strafing from 3 enemy planes . Riding in a bantam truck toward French headquarters , progress of the party was hindered by fire from our own naval guns . Nearing Port Lyautey , Col . Craw was instantly killed by a sustained burst of machinegun fire at pointblank range from a concealed position near the road .