Navy veteran wrote two books, met Hollywood stars.

By Petra Chesner Schlatter, BucksLocalNews.com


U.S. Navy Third Class Petty Officer William M. Craighead, of Newtown, was a radar operator on a landing craft during World War II.

“I was drafted at the age of 18,” said Craighead, who later worked as a high school biology teacher at The George School in Newtown. He would go on to write two books about World War II, one with the late veteran Kingdon Swayne, also of Newtown.

Craighead said he served on the U.S.S. LSM 215. The landing craft was commissioned in Philadelphia and decommissioned in San Diego. He said the ship was part of the U.S. Navy Amphibious Fleet.

On Aug. 8, 1945, his ship arrived on Guam “just two days after the first atomic bomb was dropped on [Hiroshima] Japan. We unloaded our cargo of airplane parts and began preparing for the invasion of Japan…We had no idea of its significance at the time, for none of us were aware of the atomic bomb,” Craighead wrote.

“On August 9th, the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. We began to hope that this would bring an end to World War II. There were repeated rumors of a Japanese surrender…on August 14; the war in the Pacific finally came to an end.”

Craighead wrote, “I’m probably alive today because of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For that I am grateful, but on the other hand, I feel a great deal of remorse that so many died or were maimed for life.”

On a lighter note from his time in the service, Craighead prides himself on meeting actress Angela Lansbury at the Hollywood Canteen during the war. In “All Ahead Full,” he explained how he was star-struck when he met the young English actress.

In the book, Craighead included a picture of the movie star in her later years. She is perhaps best known for her role in the television murder-mystery series, “Murder, She Wrote.” He noted that she is the same age as he – 84.

“It was there that I met Angela Lansbury,” he wrote of the Hollywood Canteen. “At that time, she was a starlet, only 18 or 19 years old, just my age. She had just made her first big movie hit, ‘Gaslight.’”

“The Hollywood Canteen was inspired by two movie stars, John Garfield and Bette Davis,” Craighead wrote. “Garfield was known to have said to Davis, ‘Thousands of servicemen come to Hollywood without seeing any movie stars: something ought to be done about it.'

“Davis agreed and the Hollywood Canteen was born,” he continued.

“It was supported financially by guilds, unions, and movie stars themselves. More than a million servicemen passed through the canteen,” he wrote.

“There was a special place in the Hollywood Canteen where movie stars greeted servicemen,” Craighead wrote. “It was a time and experience I shall always remember.

“One night, I saw Anne Sheridan dancing with servicemen. I didn’t take advantage of the opportunity; guess I was too embarrassed. I took a good look at her though, and if I had had a picture of her, I would have made her my pin-up girl. Other shipmates visiting the canteen had stories of their own. One fellow was even invited to a movie star’s house for dinner.”

Craighead and his wife, Betty, recently attended a celebration for The National World War II Museum in New Orleans. The museum celebrated the grand opening of three attractions, including the Stage Door Canteen.

At the event, he was one of approximately 250 WWII veterans, representing each branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. He was escorted by active-duty military, Guard and Reserve, in a red carpet procession, which began the dedication ceremony. The ceremony featured actor Tom Hanks and broadcaster Tom Brokaw.

Because Craighead had written about the Hollywood Canteen, he was included in a documentary about the place. He was driven to New York City by limousine and he met Angela Lansbury again.

“When I met her, it was like greeting a long lost friend,” Craighead said. “She wouldn’t remember me from Adam. It was just delightful to see her firsthand.

“They photographed us together,” he said of the documentary which was made about the Canteen for the museum’s celebration.

About meeting Lansbury for the second time, Craighead said, “As a celebrity she appears to me to be very outgoing and so responsive to conversation. She’s a very attractive woman, and for 84, she’s exceptionally so, I might say.”