[Harry C. Crim, Jr. oral history interview]

Fighter ace Harry C. Crim, Jr. discusses his military service with the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He describes his wartime experiences as a fighter pilot and his time with the 21st Fighter Group while stationed in Hawaii, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Iwo Jima. Special focus on a banzai attack on Iwo Jima in March 1945 and on a combat mission in April 1945 in which Crim shot down two Japanese airplanes.

Harry C. Crim, Jr. was born on February 15, 1919 in Simme Township, Illinois. He joined the United States Army Forces in 1941 and graduated from flight school the following year. Crim’s first tour of duty was with the 37th Fighter Squadron in the Mediterranean Theater, participating in the North African Campaign and the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy. In 1943, he returned to the states and joined the 21st Fighter Group for a second combat tour in the Pacific Theater. He flew with the 72nd Fighter Squadron and 531st Fighter Squadron in the Northern Mariana Islands and Iwo Jima. Remaining in the military after the war, Crim’s subsequent assignments included serving with the 20th Fighter-Bomber Wing and the 47th Bomb Wing; working at NATO headquarters and at the Pentagon; and serving as chief engineer of the General Dynamics F-111 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (Ohio). He retired as a colonel in 1967 and passed away in 1994.

Biographical information courtesy of: Boyce, Ward J., ed., American fighter aces album. Mesa, Ariz: American Fighter Aces Association, 1996.