Benjamin Martin Cragun

His Picture

His Story

Benjamin Martin Cragun, born at Witham Hospital, Lebanon, IN on August 27, 1929 worked in his youth as a:

corn detassler for Davis Seed Company
yard mower for his subscribers
service station attendant for Witt's Super Service
printer's devil for the Lebanon Reporter
laborer for the New York Central Railroad

He graduated from LHS with his class in 1947 but had entered active duty with the U.S. Navy in 1946. He became an instructor in the Aviation Electricians School at the Naval Air Technical Training Center in Jacksonville, Florida and Memphis, Tennessee where he served until his discharge in 1950. In September of that year he commenced studies at Indiana University graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government in 1953 after having been commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1952. Like his father and brother he became a Sigma Nu.

In August 1953 he was commissioned in the Quartermaster Corps of the Regular Army, and called to active duty being detailed to the artillery with assignment to the 5th AAA Group at Camp Hanford Washington. Thus began a military career spanning another twenty two years until his retirement as Colonel, QMC in June 1975. During that time he had served in Germany 1956-59, Thailand, 1965-68 and Vietnam twice; once from 1962 to 1963 and again from 1968 to 1969 when he commanded the 96th Supply and Service Battalion at Cam Ranh Bay. His last six years of active duty were spent at the Pentagon as Chief of the Supply Programs Branch in the Office of the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics and later as Staff Director for International Logistics in the Foreign Military Programs Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Installations and Logistics.

Ben had returned to I.U. for graduate studies in the School of Business Administration and was awarded the MBA degree in Management in 1962. Later, in conjunction with studies at the Army War College where he graduated in 1972, he was also awarded the MS (Public Administration) by Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. His other military schools included the QMC Officer Basic and Advanced courses, The Command and General Staff College (1964) and the Defense Language Institute where he studied the Thai language (1965).

In recognition of particular achievements during his active duty, Ben was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal three times, and was twice awarded the Legion of Merit and the Army Commendation Medal. He was also awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army General Staff Badge and the Staff Service Badge of the Department of Defense.

Following his retirement he earned the Post Masters Certificate in Health Care Administration at the George Washington University and was employed by the Rockingham Memorial Hospital at Harrisonburg, Virginia as Assistant Administrator from 1976-1979.

Thereafter Ben retired from salaried employment devoting himself to the management of his own financial affairs and to volunteer community service first in Martinsville, Virginia where they moved in 1979, then in Lebanon, Indiana where they returned in 1985 to assist his mother.

He is a 32° Mason, Life Member of the BPO Elks and a Presbyterian Elder
In 1983 he was awarded the Certificate in Biblical Studies by Eastern Mennonite Seminary following a year of study at Harrisonburg, Virginia.

On June 14, 1953 Ben married his college sweetheart Mary Jane Crane of Hillsboro, Indiana. They had met at a fraternity dance in 1951. Ben was pledged Sigma Nu and Janie was pledged Tri Delta and their romance blossomed continuing even to this writing.

Mary Jane Crane Cragun

Following her graduation from I.U. in 1956 with a B.S. degree in Education Janie has had a distinguished career in teaching and school administration. Through the years she taught in the American Schools in Bad Tolz, Germany and Bangkok, Thailand during Ben's postings to these cities. Additionally, she taught in schools at Ft. Lee and Arlington, Virginia; Indianapolis, Lebanon, and Hillsboro, Indiana; Richland, Washington; and Monterey, California. In 1976 she was appointed Assistant Principal of the Elkton, Virginia Elementary School, in 1979, she was appointed Principal of the Druid Hills Elementary School in Martinsville, Virginia. In 1986, she was appointed Principal of the Central Elementary School in Lebanon and the following year was appointed Director and later Assistant Superintendent of Instruction for the Lebanon Community Schools, a position which she held until her retirement in 1995.

While Ben was at I.U. in the MBA program, Janie completed work for the M.S. degree in Educational Supervision. She also did extensive graduate studies at the University of Virginia. During these careers, Ben and Janie have raised three children.

Ollie Depew (Jack) Crane

Janie's father, Ollie "Jack" Crane, was engaged in electrical contracting doing work for a time with the R.E.M.C. Eventually he and his wife opened the Crane's Electric retail store in Hillsboro where they sold a line of electrical household appliances including television and offered repair services.

Jack claimed to trace his father's line back to a >Dr. and Mony Walker, his great great grandparents who emigrated from England c1775 and are buried in the cemetery at Mace, Indiana. His maternal great grandfather was reported to have married a Blackfoot Indian.

Jack's father, Herbert Crane was a farmer in Park County near Russellville where Jack was born on August 7, 1899. Herbert was the son of Calvin Washington Crane and Cynthia Glyerion Crane.

Herbert and his family moved to west of Hillsboro where Herbert died of measles in either 1907 or 1910. The family then moved to Hillsboro.

Jack's mother, Emma Crain Crane was the daughter of Isaac Crain.

Emma remarried, following Herbert's death, to Fritz Holmes, and Jack was sent to live with a Beck family. Jennie, the mother of the Beck family, and Jack's maternal grandmother had both been reared by Jack's great great grandparents.

Jack enlisted in the Regular Army August 15,1917 for service in W.W.I. He was assigned to the 41st Division Headquarters Battery at Ft. Monroe, Virginia. While preparing for shipment overseas, the war ended and he was discharged on January 4,1919. He took work as a waiter in a chili parlor in Indianapolis. He later went to Kansas City and worked while living with his brother. He returned to Hillsboro and married Marie Queeneyon September 22,1920 following which he had several jobs involving construction, farming, and work on the C.E. & I Railroad. He then took work with Standard Oil Company in Attica.

He was promoted to station supervisor in Lafayette where he worked until he took his wife and family then including Jim, born July 14,1922 at Hillsboro and Bill, born October 12,1924 at Attica to Colorado.

In Denver, where Janie was born, he worked for Continental Oil Company as a station manager for nine years prior to their return to .

In 1971 they sold their business and property in Hillsboro including the ponies they had raised and trained for show then relocated to Eagle Lake, Florida five miles east of Winterhaven where they lived until Marie became ill in the spring of 1983 and came to Virginia to make her home with Ben and Janie in June. Jack, whose health was also poor, stayed on in their home at Eagle Lake until his death on August 5, 1985. He is buried at the Wildwood Cemetery in Bartow, Florida. He was a 32° Mason and Past Master of the Hillsboro Lodge F & AM.

His family is unique in that the father and two sons all served on active duty in the U.S. Navy in W.W. II. They enlisted together following Jim's return from service in the R.C.A.F. in England and Bill's graduation from High School in the spring of 1942. At the time of their enlistment in August 1942, Jim was twenty, Bill was seventeen and Jack was nearly forty three years of age. Each saw active service as follows:

James Lawrence Crane completed his training as an aviation cadet at the Navel Air Training Center, Pensacola, Florida and was appointed an Ensign in the U.S.N.R. on November 25, 1943. He subsequently joined Night Torpedo Squadron 90 flying TBM aircraft and operating from the U.S. Naval Air Station, Barber's Point, Oahu territory of Hawaii. The Squadron was organized for night search and attack against enemy shipping and later against their land targets. The squadron history covering the period 25 August to 31 May, 1945 on page 8 states: "Those who gave their lives in the development of this first large carrier night torpedo squadron were pioneers" in this field of naval aviation." On page 9 is listed an entry for 20 November 1944 - Ensign James Lawrence CRANE, AV (N) USNR #337101 of Hillsboro, Indiana-flew into the sea, approximately 150 miles off Oahu, T.H. while on a training night search and attack mission. He was never found, but is memorialized at the U.S. Military Cemetery (Punchbowl) on Oahu.

William Lewis Crane completed the Navy Training Course for Radioman Third Class at the University of Chicago on January 22,1943. He subsequently completed VPB Operational Training as Air Crewman in PBY-5 type aircraft and on 17 July 1943 was assigned to patrol Squadron 73 for duty. This duty took him to the Morocco Sea Frontier in Northwest Africa where he flew patrol missions. He was subsequently reassigned to the Navy V-12 unit at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana for training.

He graduated from Wabash College in 1948 with an AB degree in Psychology. While a student, he married Betty Ford of Hillsboro, Indiana. They have two children.

Bill was employed as salesman by General Box Company following graduation from college and remained with the company throughout his working life retiring in 1983 as Vice president for Marketing. They live in Sylvania, Ohio.

O.D. Jack Crane was shipped to Portsmouth, Virginia for assignment to an Amphibian Flortilla. He was transferred to the New York Navy Yard to commission LST 313 where he became the Electrician's Mate called "Pop" because of his age. The vessel made passage after Easter 1943 across the Atlantic Ocean, into the Mediterranean Sea and to port at Oran, Morocco. After a period of beaching practice they joined the fleet for the invasion of Sicily on July 10, 1943 where the vessel was hit by a bomb starting a fire and explosions. The vessel was abandoned and the crew swam to shore where they were eventually rescued. Jack was admitted to a hospital in North Africa for injuries received returning to the states in August. He subsequently was assigned Chief Electrician's Mate on the USS Valencia AKA 81 and participated in the invasion of Okinawa following which he was hospitalized again in San Francisco. His service in the Sicily invasion was recognized thirty two years later when he was awarded the Purple Heart Medal as reported in an article in the Fountain County Star dated September 18, 1975.

Marie Queeney Crane

Jack's wife Marie Queeney Crane, Janie's mother, was born November 12, 1901 at Chicago, Illinois. She recalled that her father Peter Queeney met her mother,Maria Foley, on the ship which brought them to the U.S. from Ireland in the late 1800's. Her mother was born in Cork and her father came from County Galway. They were married either in New York or in Chicago where they took up residence. Peter was a carpenter and wood carver doing work such as elaborate church doors before he entered the saloon business which ultimately failed. He died by his own hand a short time thereafter in 1905 and Maria was left with five children to raise. She took work as a laundress, became ill and unable to care for the children who were placed in homes. She died of tuberculosis in the Cook County Hospital around 1911. Mr. Edward Queeney, a cousin, took daughter, Margaret, to raise sending her to a boarding school in Wisconsin. An Aunt Bridget Foley Coolihan raised daughter, Kathryn. Sons Lawrence and Peter were placed in the St. Mary's Training School at Des Plaines, Illinois. Later Lawrence was placed in the home of William LaPoint in Chicago but in May 1916 had run away. Peter, by February 1919, was to live with his Aunt Bridget Coolihan. Marie at age ten in 1911 was taken into the home of Jewell Tinsley at Hillsboro. She was raised and educated by the Tinsley family with whom she lived until her marriage to Jack in 1920.

She moved back to Indiana with Ben and Janie in August 1985 and the following November entered the Masonic Home in Franklin, Indiana where she passed away in 1994. She is buried in the family plot at the Hillsboro, IN cemetery.

Their Children