Born at Boston,Kentucky in 1899,Crowe enlisted in the USMC after WW1.He saw service in Nicaragua and China and was commissioned as a Gunnery Warrant Officer in 1934.A 'mustang',he attained his Captain's bars after Pearl Harbor.
Captain Crowe landed with the 8th Marines at Guadalcanal in November 1942,commanding a Weapons Company.On the 13th January 1943 while leading an attack on Japanese positions Crowe issued his famous "Follow Me" command
("Goddam it,you'll never get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole!Follow me!")
"Paul Bunyan Of The Marines - The Paul Bunyan of the Marine Corps has pulled through again: 45-year-old "Jim" Crowe has persuaded the doctors to let him go back to war. Leading his battalion of the 8th Marines into a beachhead landing, at Saipan last June, 6 ft., 200 lb. Lieut. Colonel Henry Pierson Crowe came about as close to getting killed as a man can and still live.First a Japanese bullet pierced his left lung. Then he was almost killed by
one of his own men who mistook him for the enemy. Dragged back to a shell hole in the sand near the water, Crowe was treated by a Navy corpsman. There a Japanese mortar shell killed the corpsman; another fragment wounded the doctor who took the corpman's place. By that time mortar and artillery shells were dropping on the beachhead continuously. Crowe covered his chest wound with his poncho and his face with his helment. A shell fragment tore throught the phoncho and pierced his chest in two more places. Five other fragments hit him in the arm, shoulder and leg. A sliver tore off his thumbnail. A doctor who examined him said, "Not much chance." Crowe retruned: "First thing you do, cut off that hanging thumbnail. It's damned annoying."
Kentucky-born Jim Crowe came up through the ranks. He was an enlisted man up until 1934, when he became a Marine gunner (warrant officer). After Pearl Harbor, he was commissioned a captain. During his 16 years in the ranks Jim Crowe was famed for two things: he was one of the world's topnotch rifle shots and for six years he was a crack player on the all-Marine football teams. At Guadalcanal, Crowe contributed to to Marine folklore. While leading a charge against the dug-in Japanese he yelled: "Get out of those foxholes, men, you'll never get the Purple Heart layin there!" Crowe received the Silver Star for his actions on Guadalcanal, the Navy Cross on Tarawa and a Purple Heart on Saipan. The medal he is most proud of though is his Good Conduct medal for four enlistments. In San Diego a doctor told Crowe: "Colonel, you owe your life to a strong constitution and good, clean living."
Jim just smiled."
bravery there.
On the 15th June 1944 Lt Col Crowe lead the 2/8th ashore onto Saipan and was subsequently badly wounded.His combat service in WW2 was at an end.
Crowe stayed in the Corps and along with Colonel Shoup(MOH Tarawa) made a cameo appearance in the 1949 "Sands of Iwo Jima".When the Korean war broke out in 1950 Crowe commanded the 1st Shore Party
Battalion at Inchon.
Crowe retired from the USMC in the late 1950s and later served as Chief of Police of the Portsmouth,Va Police Dept from 1960 to 1969.He retired to live in Portsmouth.
Commanding officer, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines.
Awarded the Navy Cross for actions during 20-24 November on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll:
"For extraordinary heroism, the greatest of personal and unflinching valor, great military skill, inspirational and outstanding leadership, and ceaseless energy. Despite the fiercest resistance, Crowe was the first battalion commander to reach shore. Braving intense machinegun and shell fire, constantly with his men at the most violent points of fighting, he organized the establishment of a beachhead and directed the elimination of hostile snipers and gun crews from along the seawall and inland of the beachhead. Without rest and at great personal risk, he maintained continuous aggressive pressure against heavily reinforced enemy emplacements. Crowe was personally largely responable for winning and maintaining the beachhead at Tarawa".