Dan Crippen
WWII Veteran
By: Rebecca Sunde, Kaitlyn Walker, and Elly Shoemaker
Daniel Wilks Crippen was born January 20, 1925. He had two brothers and two sisters, and was the second child of a family of five. His parents’ names were Hallie and Lloyd Crippen. Dan was born close to Canistota. He was not born in a hospital. Dan went to school in a country school. There was one teacher who taught grades one through eight. There were about 32 children. It was the biggest school he went to. Now days there are about 32 students in one class! As a child, one of his favorite games was baseball, and at school he liked to play Annie I Over with all his friends. A bottle of pop only cost a nickel, and a gallon of gas only cost 20 cents! One of Dan’s favorite treats when he was a child was vanilla ice cream, but he only got it once a year. Dan never thought about getting a car. When he was a kid the cars only cost $500-$600, and they only went 40 miles an hour.
Dan was 18 when he volunteered for the war. Volunteers are sent to war after signing up, but it’s not the same as being drafted. He was not married when he volunteered for the war. His two other brothers weren’t in the war because one had was crippled with polio and the other had lost an eye. Dan went to basic training for six weeks and advance basic training for another six weeks at Camp Peary in Virginia. Dan says that basic training and boot camp are more for getting you to listen and obey. But advanced training teaches you how to shoot guns. Dan was a SC Second Class and an 8th NCB, which means Navel Construction Battalion. Dan guarded for one month and cooked for three months. Dan was in the Navy Seabees. He did not get injured in the war. Dan didn’t receive a Purple Heart, but he did receive one Battle Star and other medals and ribbons.
Dan had to sleep in a pup tent. A pup tent is a small tent that can hold about two people. Where the pup tents were stationed there used to be tall, uneven, bumpy and rocky lands. Soon they would flatten the bumpy land out using a bulldozer. As soon as the bulldozing was over the flat land wasn’t so bad to sleep on. They slept in pup tents most of the time.
Dan remembers landing at Iwo Jima shortly after the Americans took it. This was a volcanic island, which was one and one-half miles long and five miles wide. The soldiers would dig their feet far into the sand. It was hot. Because of the heat, they would warm their K-rations by placing them deep beneath ground.
Dan had a few favorites during the war. His favorite singer was Bing Crosby. He didn’t have a favorite actor because there weren’t many TV’s and they didn’t have too much time to watch TV anyway. He also said the all the TV’s were in black and white. His favorite song was called “White Christmas.” His favorite athlete was Joe DiMaggio he was a baseball player. His favorite movie was For Whom the Bells Toll.
When Dan returned from the war in 1946 he couldn’t find a job for a while, but soon discovered that a job was waiting for him at a repair shop. He worked at the repair shop for one year. Then he found another job at a truck stop. He worked there for three years. He got married five years after the war. Soon he had two children of his own a boy named Danny and a girl named Carla.
Dan Crippen was a World War II Veteran and a brave man to fight for our country and the United States. We authors just met Dan Crippen and think Dan is a really nice man. We think that people should honor the veterans who fought for our country and for our freedom. We all don’t realize how hard they had to fight. Dan shared a book of World War II pictures with us. Only the 8th NCB’s received the books. We think that we need to show a lot more respect.