SS Marcus Daly was a liberty ship built by the Kaiser Shipyards at their Permanente No.1 yard at Richmond, California, and launched on 24 July 1943.

[4] On July 30, 1944, the ship sailed from Wilmington, Los Angeles, loaded with 12 night-fighter aircraft, and with a crew of 27 United States Navy Armed Guards and 41 men of the Merchant Marine.

[5] After three months operating between various ports in New Guinea and the Admiralty Islands, on October 18 the ship sailed from Hollandia, bound for Tacloban in the Philippines.

Marcus Daly shot down two aircraft, but at around 1530 was struck by a kamikaze which made a hole "large enough to drive a train through" and set the ship on fire.

Crawford volunteered for the forward gun crew which, acting in countless attacks for many days, by repulsing the enemy and bringing down many planes in 1944.