World War II Honoree

Raymond A. Cromley

Branch of Service

U.S. Army

Hometown

Tulare, California

Honored By

Friends of American Heroes

TENSIONS WERE ESCALATING IN IMPERIAL JAPAN AND A FEW DAYS BEFORE DECEMBER 7, 1941 AS A YOUNG U.S. NEWSPAPERMAN HE WAS ARRESTED, ACCUSED OF BEING A SPY AND PUT IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. WHEN LIEUTENANT COLONEL DOOLITTLE'S RAIDERS FLEW OVER TOKYO IN APRIL 1942, THEIR BOMBS DROPPED NEAR HIS PRISON. TWO MONTHS LATER HE WAS RELEASED, ALONG WITH OTHER AMERICANS, IN A SWAP FOR JAPANESE DIPLOMATS BEING HELD IN WASHINGTON. HIS 3 YEAR OLD SON ACCOMPANIED HIM ON THE SWEDISH SHIP GRIPSHOLM, BUT THE JAPANESE REFUSED TO LET HIS PHYSICIAN WIFE LEAVE. ONCE BACK IN THE U.S. HE JOINED THE ARMY. WITH HIS JAPANESE AND CHINESE LANGUAGE SKILLS, HE WAS ASSIGNED TO AN INTELLIGENCE UNIT AND SENT ON THE TOP SECRET DIXIE MISSION TO ESTABLISH THE FIRST RELATIONS WITH THE CHINESE COMMUNISTS LED BY MAO TSE-TUNG. THE AMERICANS JOINED THE YOUNG PARTY LEADERS, WHO WERE LIVING IN CAVES NEAR YENAN, CHINA. HE TOLD THE JOURNAL THAT HE MET SOURCES AT THE NOISY CHINESE OPERAS IN YENAN AND BEFRIENDED MAO'S WIFE. MAO ASKED HIM IN JANUARY 1945 TO SEND A MESSAGE TO PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. ACCORDING TO THE CABLE HE SENT TO U.S. MILITARY HEADQUARTERS IN CHINA, MAO WANTED TO GO TO WASHINGTON, ACCOMPANIED BY CHOU EN-LAI, ON WHAT WAS ESSENTIALLY A TRADE MISSION. THE CABLE WAS INTERCEPTED AND HELD BY AMBASSADOR PATRICK J. HURLEY, WHO DIDN'T LIKE THE IDEA OF MAO MEETING ROOSEVELT. HE LEFT THE MILITARY AT THE RANK OF COLONEL WITH A BRONZE STAR AND A LEGION OF MERIT, RETURNED TO JAPAN AFTER THE WAR FOR HIS WIFE. BUT SHE HAD CONTRACTED TUBERCULOSIS AND, WITH HER HUSBAND AT HER BEDSIDE, DIED IN 1946. HE ALSO EARNED THE RAYMOND CLAPPER AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN WASHINGTON REPORTING.