Rank: Specialist 4
Unit: K Troop, 3rd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11B – Infantryman
Awards: Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Meritorious Unit Citation, Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Note: Operation Akron
Enlisted by: Selected Service
Date of birth: 10-May-1946
Hometown: Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 29-Nov-1965
Start of tour: 3-Aug-1966
Incident date: 19-Jun-1967
Date of casualty: 19-Jun-1967
Age at death: 21
Cause of death: Hostile, Died. Grenade. Multiple fragmentation wounds.
Raymond Desmond Crowder Jr was on combat operation when his unit engaged a hostile force in firefight.
Ten Blackhorse troopers died as a result of this incident:
SP4 Raymond Desmond Crowder Jr
SP4 William Jerry Dillon
PFC Edward Lee Fails Jr
SP4 Russell Louis Filiberti
SP4 Blaine Wilson Landers
PFC Bobby Louis Murphy
PFC Charles Howard Richards Jr
SSG Wayne Thomas Schumacher
SP5 William Norman Scott
PFC Leonard Vito Tedesco
Location of fatality: Phuoc Tuy, South Vietnam, Slope 30
Place of interment: Siloam Methodist Cemetery, Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, USA
View this soldier‘s Find a Grave page (opens in a new window)
BRONZE STAR MEDAL
WITH VALOR DEVICE
POSTHUMOUS
SPECIALIST FOUR RAYMOND DESMOND CROWDER JR
19 JUNE 1967
K TROOP, 3rd SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Specialist Four Crowder distinguished himself by valorous actions on. 19 June 1967, while serving as a rifleman on an ambush patrol in the jungles of Vietnam, Suddenly Specialist Crowder alertly detected enemy movement and hesitantly directed a devastating volley of highly accurate suppressive fire upon the Viet Cong positions. As the fierce firefight intensified, Specialist Crowder was critically injured by a burst of hostile fire. Disregarding his wounds, Specialist Crowder bravely crawled through the heavy insurgent fire to a wounded comrade. Rapidly applying first aid, Specialist Crowder simultaneously suppressed all enemy movement with his weapon. Observing that the hostile force was mounting an assault upon his position, Specialist Crowder courageously exposed himself in a fearless attempt to repel the insurgents. At that moment, Specialist Crowder was again struck by enemy fire but refused to leave his position. Although weakened by his wounds, Specialist Crowder gallantly resisted all enemy advances until a. burst of fire mortally wounded him. Specialist Four Crowder’s personal bravery and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
Headquarters, 9th Infantry Division General Orders No. 3072 (7 July 1967)