George Harold Cronin – Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force

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From a contemporary press report:

George Harold Cronin, 100, an air combat veteran of World War I who also served with the Army Air Forces in Europe during World War II, died of colon cancer January 30, 1998 at the Hospice of Northern Virginia. He lived in Falls Church, Virginia.

He enlisted in the Army in 1917, after two years of study at Johns Hopkins University, and became a pilot in what was then the Army Air Service. He earned his wings in Foggia, Italy, and flew Caproni CA-3 bombers against Austrian forces in the Vittorio-Veneto Italian offensive. He left the Army after the war.

He returned to active duty during World War II, serving as a flying control officer in Europe. After that war, he served in this country and then in Japan and Taiwan during the Korean War.

He was stationed at Andrews Air Force Base, with the Military Air Transport Command, when he retired from active duty as a lieutenant colonel in 1957. After that, Colonel Cronin worked for the military in a civilian capacity, retiring altogether in 1967 from the Pentagon’s Civil Engineering Directorate.

He was a founding member of the Order of Daedalians. Some of his World War I medals and other memorabilia have been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution’s Air & Space Museum.

Colonel Cronin, who was born in Aberdeen, Maryland, was a 1926 civil engineering graduate of the Colorado School of Mines. Between the wars, he farmed in Wyoming and worked in mining and petroleum engineering projects in the West. He also flew with the Colorado National Guard.

His wife, the former Cordia Windsor, whom he married in 1932, died in 1985. Survivors include a son, George II, of Falls Church; three daughters, Anne Jayne of San Bruno, Calif., Virginia Cronin of Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Margaret Cassandra Hjortland of Ingleside, Ill.; a sister, Virginia Burruss of Gaithersburg; six grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

Section 67, Grave 2359.

CRONIN, GEORGE HAROLD, Lt. Col., USAF (Ret.)

On Friday, January 30, 1998, at Hospice of Northern Virginia, GEORGE H. CRONIN, of Falls Church, VA, husband of the late Cordia W. Cronin; father of Anne Jayne, Virginia Cronin, George H. Cronin II and Margaret Cassandra Hjortland; brother of Virginia Burruss. Also surviving are six grandchildren and one great-grandson. Funeral services will be held Monday, February 9, 3 p.m. at Ft. Myer Chapel. Interment Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Hospice of Northern Virginia, 6400 Arlington Blvd., Suite 1000, Falls Church, VA 22042.

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