VA Medical Center Renaming Honors Memory of Medal of Honor Recipient

PHILADELPHIA – Last Veterans Day, a street in Sea Isle City was renamed and dedicated in memory of Army Cpl. Michael J. Crescenz, Medal of Honor recipient killed in action in Vietnam Nov. 20, 1968. His family has ties to that city and he spent many youthful summers on the resort’s beach.
Another honor was accorded Crescenz’ memory May 2 when, at 10 a.m., a ceremony renamed the Philadelphia VA Medical Center as Cpl. Michael J. Crescenz Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 3900 Woodland Ave., Philadelphia.
Rio Grande veteran Joseph Griffies, who served in Vietnam, is an advocate for veterans and who hosts the weekly radio program “Welcome Home Show” on WIBG radio, said Crescenz “is the only Vietnam veteran to receive the Medal of Honor from Philadelphia and Cape May County, we believe, since the Civil War.”
Griffies wrote:
As the VA Hospital in Philadelphia is one of the largest in our country, Medal of Honor recipient Cpl. Michael J. Crescenz will always be remembered in the company of Medal of Honor recipients Sgt. Alvin York from World War I and Lt. Audie Murphy from World War II, the only two Medal of Honor recipients to have VA hospitals named for them.
In the 1920s, Crescenz’ grandfather, Charles Crescenz Sr., purchased a home in Sea Isle City after he returned home from World War I. Michael’s father, Charles Crescenz Jr., was born and introduced to the summer home and grew up on the beaches of Sea Isle City. At age 16, he had his first job as a lifeguard on the very beaches his family loved so much.
One sunny afternoon on the beaches of Sea Isle City, Charles met his young sweetheart, who in a few short years would become his wife when he returned home from World War II.
Mary McLaughlin, who lived at 47th Street, and went to the beach with her parents, would soon become Mrs. Mary Crescenz.
As their love grew for one another and Sea Isle City so did their family. First came Charlie (Marine 1967-68 Vietnam veteran), Michael (Army 1968 Vietnam veteran), Petey (Marine veteran), Steven (Coast Guard veteran), and Joey and Chris.
Michael’s love of playing on the beaches of Sea Isle City with his brother Charlie and his cousins, the McLaughlins, would only prepare him for what was going to happen a few short years later.
As Crescenz grew on the beaches of the city, so did the size of the holes he dug in the sand. Likely the thought never crossed Michael’s mind as he was digging the holes in the sand of Sea Isle that he would be digging holes in the sand of a far-away land known as Vietnam. This time not for fun but for survival.
Crescenz’ life of 19 years was spent with the winter in Philadelphia and summers in Sea Isle. Growing up in West Oak Lane and attending St. Athanasius grade school, he graduated from Cardinal Dougherty High School.
Crescenz enlisted in the Army in February 1968. Three months after his brother Charlie returned home from his tour in Vietnam.
When asked by his squad leader Jim Willard why he always volunteered to go down a trail or on point, or go in a tunnel first, Crescenz’ reply was “For God, for country and for my fellow brothers.”
On an early morning of Nov. 20, 1968, after only being in country for a short time, Crescenz’ company (Company A, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry, 196th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division), encountered a very large North Vietnamese enemy force in an area called Hiep Duc Valley. When the battle ensued, two of Crescenz’ point men in his squad were killed. With the remaining members of his squad pinned down and completely surrounded by the enemy, with little or no hope of surviving, Crescenz took matters into his own hands. With little or no thought for his own safety, he picked up a 60-caliber machine gun and ran 100 meters (just over 300 feet) up the slope killing the occupants of the first bunker, turning his attention to the second bunker, he eliminated the two enemy occupants there.
Undaunted by the withering machine gun fire around him, Crescenz courageously moved towards a third bunker, which he also succeeded in silencing and killing the three enemy occupants.
By this time, Crescenz’ squad was able to maneuver. During this time, a fourth machine gun bunker opened up fire in the direction of Medic “Doc” Stafford, who was attending to a wounded comrade. Crescenz shielded Stafford and the wounded soldier he was attending, and that is when Crescenz was struck by a bullet and died, protecting his fellow soldiers.
Stafford believes to this day that he and the rest of the squad are alive due to the heroic actions of Mike Crescenz.
Crescenz was no different than any other veteran who served in Vietnam, except on Nov. 20, Crescenz stepped up over and above what most Americans would be asked to do. No greater gift can one person give than to lay down his life for another.
About 7 a.m. Nov. 23, 1968, there was a knock at the Crescenz house on Thouron Avenue.
“My dad was upstairs shaving in the bathroom getting ready for work, “ said Joe Crescenz, now 57 and living in Chester County. His mother was making breakfast. Joe, then 12, opened the door.
“Sir, can I help you?” he asked.
“Is this the Crescenz residence?” the visitor in the Army uniform inquired. The man asked to speak to Joe’s parents.
“Who the hell is bothering us at this time in the morning?” Joe’s father yelled from upstairs. “I said, ‘Dad, it’s somebody from the Army.’ You could hear the frying pan drop on the kitchen floor.”
What makes Crescenz such a tremendous hero from this region is that he was born in Philadelphia and spent his summers at his family’s home in Sea Isle City.
Born on Jan. 14, 1949, it was a happy day for the Crescenz family. A few short months after his birth, the family brought him to Sea Isle City and his beginning of his summer journeys to Sea Isle City in Cape May County began.
Growing up in his grandfather’s home in Sea Isle was Michael’s first introduction into patriotism. I am sure after a few short years, Michael was able to walk to the beaches in Sea Isle and get the experience of sand between his toes and take in the great smell of the Atlantic Ocean.
Long before he came along, his parents grew up on the same beaches.
Michaels’ mother and father are buried in the Cape May County Veterans Cemetery (Section B, Lots 603A and 604B).
Crescenz’ life was cut short only being on this earth for 19 years. His memory and his legend will live forever with the dedication of Cpl. Michael J. Crescenz Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia, and at 46th and Landis Avenue, Sea Isle City, bearing the name, Cpl. Michael J. Crescenz Street, Medal of Honor Recipient.
Medal of Honor recipient Michael Joseph Crescenz is buried in Arlington National Cemetery among our other great American heroes. His name can be found on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. and on the Vietnam Veterans Wall in Wildwood, Panel 38W, Line 016.
– By Joseph Griffies