Notes from Ed Johnson at the Old Noank Jail…
Errol B Crossman, 1924 to 2020
On Friday, May 22, 2020, at the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, Noank lost Errol Brown Crossman, age 96, a WWII Aviator Veteran, who passed away quietly in his sleep after an extended illness. He was predeceased by his wife, Alicia Burdick Crossman, on March 18, 2019.
Errol leaves three married children, his younger brother Arnold, multiple grand-children and many relatives. Because of delays caused by the Covid-19, memorial service arrangements and more information will be made at a later date by the family.
Errol was born on February 15, 1924 in New London, CT. He was the son of Ivan and Lena Brown Crossman, attended local schools and graduated from Fitch High School while working on his father’s first lobster boat. Alicia grew up as the eldest child of Thomas and Alice Burdick in a Noank home close to the water with three younger brothers plus a younger sister. She was a well behaved, hard working, attractive girl. Apparently, Errol couldn’t help noticing Alicia and they began dating when he was age 16 and she was 14. They would eventually marry at the end of WWII.
Errol enlisted with the US Army Air Corp in 1943. After training as a gunner, Errol was sent to England in 1944 and assigned to the 330th Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group, flying in B-24 Liberator Bombers with the 8th Air Force. Errol’s crew flew 30 combat missions over France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and Denmark.
The B-24 Liberator heavy bomber aircraft consisted of four engines, a 2800 mile range, bomb load of 8000 pounds, eleven .50 caliber machine guns and a crew of ten. Errol served as radio operator and nose gunner. His forward view was quite spectacular, but his vulnerability in the forward “bubble” was evident.
A newspaper article from the 1940’s describes Errol, now a Staff Sargent at age 21, relating some of his near-death experiences. In one case, three other US bombers in close proximity to Errol’s plane were blown out of the sky. In another, enemy fire killed one of the waist gunners in his plane. The most frightening episode was over Antwerp, Belgium. “We had bombed our target on the other side of the city and were headed back to England when this four gun flak outfit opened up at us. My nose turret looked like a piece of swiss cheese, the right wing was wrecked, and our numbers 3 and 4 engines were knocked out. All the flack bursts were in front of the bomber and that gave me the impression that all four guns were shooting at me personally. I felt like a clay pigeon.”
On a more comical note, Errol’s crew made a food drop to US troops who were surrounded by the enemy. As they flew low over Normandy, a German soldier on a bicycle shot at their plane and managed to damage the brake system, thus making their return landing in England a bit “difficult.”
Errol was later awarded the Air Medal with Four Oak Leaf Clusters and the European Theater Ribbon with three Stars.
Like many women with their men overseas, Alicia waited while finishing Fitch High School and working as a stenographer at Electric Boat. When Errol arrived home, they married at the Noank Baptist Church on June 7, 1945…a marriage that would last over 73 years.
Errol then worked at Electric Boat and, once again, also caught lobsters for many years with his father in the Noank boat “Falcon,” built by Robert Whitaker at the Eldridge Boatyard on West Cove and launched in 1946. (This historic local craft still exists and will be overhauled for preservation shortly at West Mystic Wooden Boatyard ).
After moving to Pearl St. in Noank, Errol and Alicia raised three children, Thomas, Barton and Errolee. When the kids were older, Alicia went to work as a Groton teacher’s aide and later worked at Mystic Seaport. Errol was hired by the Groton School Board and it was said that World War II had helped prepare him to stay calm in hectic scenarios…like helping to maintain Noank Elementary School with a large number of “active children.”
Errol was a calm, pleasant man to talk with and very helpful to me in previous years when we were correcting an alarm system problem at the Noank school. And, fittingly, as the Historian and a 75 year member of our local American Legion Post 115, he never missed a Noank Memorial Day parade. He was easy to spot, with all those medals on his uniform.
Both Alicia and Errol were very active with the Noank Baptist Church throughout their years together, Alicia with her singing and working with children and Errol serving on the Trustees and as an Usher on a very consistent basis. They will be missed by so many of us as symbols and icons of people who lead “good” lives.
So, we honor and thank Errol for risking his life on those 30 missions, and we thank Alicia for waiting for him to come home. You are now together again.
Ed J
noankjail 
Ed – Is this the article.email you posted for family, friends and neighbors in Noank or did you submit this to the Times? Well written – may use a lot of it for the Times article. Received all the other information. – See you were up late!! Thanks for all your help. Jim
Jim, this was the local article only. Slightly shorter upgrade to the 2 previous drafts 1 & 2 that I sent you. This did NOT go to TIMES or DAY. I did it because I was starting to get calls, so I discussed it with Ti & Ree Crossman, also the church minister. They don’t even have an Obit out yet. So I put it just on local FB page and local Noank E-mail list. You still have a clean shot. No conflict. Ed J