Andrew Bernard “Andy” Crawford
Trooper · NZ #15263 · T2 Patrol
| Rank | Trooper |
|---|---|
| Service number | NZ #15263 |
| Patrol | T2 Patrol |
| Known as | “Andy” |
| Record | https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/144878 |
What this roll records
HE WAS APPOINTED TO WRITE THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE GROUP, AND THE OFFICIAL HISTORY THAT APPEARED WAS NOT HIS. In the spring of 1943 at least seven New Zealand papers reported, from 30 APRIL to 7 MAY, that “the official history of the Long Range Desert Group is to be written for publication in booklet form in New Zealand by Trooper A. B. Crawford, formerly of Gore”, then attached to New Zealand Public Relations, Middle East, after more than two years in the Group. He told his parents at Gore that he was first finishing a booklet on the New Zealand railway operating and construction companies and would start on the LRDG history after it. WHAT WAS PUBLISHED INSTEAD. The Long Range Desert Group volumes in the New Zealand official history series were written by R. L. KAY — “Long Range Desert Group in Libya, 1940-41” (1949) and “Long Range Desert Group in the Mediterranean” (1950) — and both are listed on this site’s own Books page. Crawford is not named in them as their author. WHAT BECAME OF HIS COMMISSION IS NOT KNOWN HERE. The appointment may have been changed, or he may have written something that was never published, or the booklet he did write may have been the railways one and nothing more. THIS ROLL DOES NOT KNOW, AND DOES NOT GUESS: the appointment is recorded because seven papers reported it, and the outcome is recorded as unresolved because it is. If anyone can close the gap, it belongs on this card. Sources: Timaru Herald, 30 April 1943, page 4, and Northern Advocate, 4 May 1943, both via Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand); and this site’s own Books page for the Kay volumes.
Not yet verified — leave blank
Full name Andrew Bernard Crawford. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.
A “MARTIN CRAWFORD” STANDS IN THE BACKGROUND OF A T PATROL PHOTOGRAPH, AND THIS ROLL WILL NOT CLAIM HE IS THIS MAN. Trooper Ray Porter #14265, T2, photographed a group against a truck on the CAIRO–ALEXANDRIA ROAD, MARCH 1941, coming back from GIARABUB, and wrote on the back: “Reading from left to right: Self [Ray Porter (14265)], MARTIN CRAWFORD (IN BACKGROUND), Jack Job (508), Bill Forbes, Jack Shepherd and Allan Nutt (14550).” WHAT POINTS TO THIS CARD: he is the ONLY Crawford on the roll; he is T2, which is Porter’s own patrol; and the date and place fit his service. WHAT POINTS AWAY FROM IT: the forename. This roll holds him as ANDREW BERNARD CRAWFORD, known as “ANDY”. Porter writes MARTIN, and Porter was standing next to him. SO IT IS LEFT OPEN. Either Porter used a name this roll has not recorded, or there was a second Crawford in the Group who is not on this list. If anyone can settle it, or knows of a Martin Crawford in the LRDG, please use the box below. THE PICTURE IS NOT COPIED ONTO THIS SITE. The museum marks it “this image may be subject to copyright”, so this roll quotes the words and points at the original, exactly as it does with newspapers it cannot licence. It is on the Online Cenotaph record for Job, and you can see it here: https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36002 Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record C36002 (photograph and inscription contributed to that record); read 2 September 2026.
See him in the full roll →Where this comes from
- Additional sources (AWMM Online Cenotaph). Nominal Roll 2NZEF No. 4 (Embarkations 1 Apr–30 Jun 1941), p.81. Unit history: Loughnan, R. (1963). Divisional Cavalry.
This page is part of the Long Range Desert Group roll of members at lrdgarchive.org. If you hold rights to anything on it and would like it credited differently, or taken down, please see Sources and Copyright. It will be dealt with promptly.
Not By Strength But By Guile