Adjutant

 Bill Edward Crumlett, CPT (Ret.), Infantry, U.S. Army

Bill joined Alamo Chapter 1836, Military Order of the Purple Heart, in 1997 as a Life Member. He is four-time past Commander, has served as Sr. Vice, Jr. Vice, Finance Officer, Adjutant and Trustee and served as Department of Texas Adjutant for eight years. He has helped with just about every major project of the Chapter in the past 25 years.

Bill was born March 6, 1946, to Ed & Lillian Crumlett and raised on a farm in rural Dickinson County, Iowa, one of five children. Forefathers of both mother and father were early Midwest pioneers. His maternal great-grandfather served four years with the 3rd Iowa Cavalry in the Civil War.   

After receiving an Associate’s Degree, Bill enlisted in the Army in 1966. Upon completing Basic and AIT, he entered Infantry OCS at Ft. Benning and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in December 1967. He attended Ranger School and then was assigned to Ft. Carson as an infantry platoon leader in Charlie Company, 1/11th Infantry Battalion, 5th Infantry Division, one brigade of which was preparing for deployment to Vietnam. On September 21, 1968, while on combat operations in northern I Corps, Bill’s platoon was engaged in a firefight while coming to the assistance of another company in the Battalion which had been ambushed and had lost several men. Bill was severely wounded by an RPG which exploded next to him and spent months in several hospitals eventually ending up at Brooks General Hospital at Ft. Sam.

Upon mending, Bill served as a reserve advisor in Iowa for one year during which time he was promoted to Captain. In 1970 he was assigned as Company Commander of Bravo Company, 2/23rd Infantry Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division on the DMZ in Korea. After 14 months in Korea, Bill returned to the US and received a medical discharge in November 1971.  

Bill went back to college and received a bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s University and an MBA from UTSA. He worked in human resources for his entire civilian career, retiring in 2011 from Southwest Research Institute after 34 years as the highest-ranking HR manager at the company.  

He is married for 47 years to Waltraud “Wally” (Skerhut). They have three children and three grandchildren.