On March 14, almost 80 years to the day after his death at 19, U.S. Army Pvt. 1st Class Arthur W. Crossland Jr. -- simply Jr. to those who knew him, which is no one now -- will be laid to rest at Fort Jackson National Cemetery with full military honors.
The Columbia, South Carolina, native triggered a mine in France on March 15, 1945, and disappeared in the explosion. U.S. troops withdrew without recovering his remains.
Eventually, those remains were given the name Unknown X-535 and interred at Normandy American Cemetery. They were exhumed in 2022 on a hunch and identified using science that didn't exist in World War II.
His real name was restored in August and he is being flown back to the U.S. on Friday. He will lay in repose at Shives Funeral Home on Trenholm Road Extension Thursday, a day before his funeral.
He died decades ago, but he is alive and well, if homesick, in dozens of letters he exchanged with his mother Lauda Mae Stallings Crossland, his daddy Arthur W. Crossland Sr., his grandmother Amanda Stallings, and his younger brother Paul.
People called Paul "Red" because of his hair. He was 10 when his big brother became a part of something bigger.
Now you can disappear for hours reading Jr.'s letters, lost to time and space and the biggest thing of all, a love that knows no bounds.
Letters Were a Lifeline
Jr. enjoyed hunting and fishing before he was drafted and deployed to a war the greatest generation fought with great moral clarity.
To him, France was strange, sunny and hot or snowy and cold, far from home and his beloved family.
For him, their letters, and his own, were lifelines.
He wrote in the morning and at night. He wrote while traveling and by candlelight. He wrote knowing any responses from home could take a month or more to arrive. He wrote with humility, apologizing for the lurch of his handwriting and by extension any misspellings on a given page.
His signoffs varied as much as what he scrawled his cursive scratches on: postcards, stationery, slips of paper.
Thinking of you always. Your loving son. Lots and lots of love. Very home sick.
Tell Daddy not to kill all the squirrels because I want to get some of them.
I suppose Red has started to school by now. I wish I could go back to school. I would rather serve a year in the pen than be in this Army. This life sure don't agree with me.
Tell Red that I hope Santa Claus is good to him. Tell him I sure wish I could spend Christmas with him. Tell him when I get out of this Army I will spend many Christmas together and I will buy him anything he wants no matter what it is.
Your son. Your son Jr. Arthur.
The locations varied, too.
Camp Croft. Fort Bragg. Camp Meade. Camp Shanks near New York City.
New York City.
I got a pass Thursday and went into New York. I had all ways heard that New York was such a grand place. But personal I don't think so much of it. I went to Times Square and Broadway and most of the popular places like Madison Square Garden and Grand Central Park. But I would not trade old Columbia for any of the outlaw citys.
A train in the Carolinas. A boat in the Atlantic Ocean.
Somewhere in France. Somewhere in France. Somewhere in France.
He slept in a ditch. Or he slept with his rifle and gas mask. Or with four blankets and candles for warmth. He asked the family to send candy and crackers and cake and anything good to eat.
I sure could use some of it.
Tell Red to be good and learn all he can in school.
'Mother, You Don't Ever Have to Worry About Me'
Reading the letters in 2025 knowing Jr. won't send any after March 15, 1945, is heartbreaking. As happens in war, the end comes fast, when you aren't ready, when you think life is long.
March 1: Dearest Mother, just a few lines to let you know that all my thoughts are still in dear old Columbia and all ways will be.
March 4:You don't know how much I would like to be back there so you could get me up.... Mother, you don't ever have to worry about me sticking my neck out for any of this bravery medals or such stuff. Because I am looking out for old Jr.
March 7: Dear grandson, we are shure glad to hear from you. I do hope and trust in God that you are getting along just fine. Son, you have always been a good boy and I want you to be good at all times. I pray that God will be with you and take care of you and I hope that it will not be long until you and all of your dear boys can come home to stay.
March 9: Dearest Jr. We are receiving your letters most every day. Sure wish you were getting your mail. I sent you another box today. Grannie paid for half of the candy.... You were such a sweet little feller. You never gave me a minute of trouble. And just as sweet now. If I just had you in my arms right now, I don't know when I would stop loving you.
March 14: No, mother, I didn't get a girl in New York. I met quite a few there, but I just met them. One of them I went skating with one nite. She had a twin. I couldn't hardly tell them apart.
March 25: Junior, you said you were reading a good bit. I would like for you to study your Bible. So when you get back home you could help out in the church.... I don't know why but all my hopes and ambitions were for you.... Can't anyone take your place. You should know that. I get so blue and lonely without you.... From a mother who loves her boy very very much.
March 28: Dearest Jr. The flowers, trees, grass is so pretty. If we could just enjoy it. There aren't many that can enjoy anything now. If they are like me.
March 29: Dearest Jr. I am so worried about you. I didn't get any mail today. I just feel like something is wrong.
April 2: Dearest Jr., I prayed all day for you.... It is quite different when you know your presus boy is being shot at. I hope you have prayed and asked the Lord to save your sole. You never know what may happen. We all need to be prepared to go to a better world than this.... Jr., you have to promise the Lord to live right and mean it. They are a lot of work in the church you could do. Tell the Lord you will do these things if he will spare you to come home.
April 2: THE SECRETARY OF WAR DESIRES ME TO EXPRESS HIS DEEP REGRET THAT YOUR SON PVT CROSSLAND ARTHUR W JR HAS BEEN MISSING IN ACTION IN FRANCE SINCE 15 MAR 45 IF FURTHER DETAILS OR OTHER INFORMATION ARE RECEIVED YOU WILL BE PROMPTLY NOTIFIED
Jan. 19, 1946: THE SECRETARY OF WAR HAS ASKED ME TO EXPRESS HIS DEEP REGRET THAT YOUR SON PFC CROSSLAND ARTHUR W JR WAS KILLED IN ACTION IN FRANCE 15 MAR 45 HE WAS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED MISSING IN ACTION PERIOD I REGRET THAT UNAVOIDABLE CIRCUMSTANCES MADE NECESSARY THE UNUSUAL LAPSE OF TIME IN REPORTING YOUR SONS DEATH TO YOU
A Family's Love
Because of science and a family's love, the story of U.S. Army Pvt. 1st Class Arthur W. Crossland Jr., 19, of Columbia, does not end with unsettling Western Union telegrams and typed letters that followed from the military and a few politicians.
It also doesn't end on the day a few years ago when kind military men spent hours with surviving family, explaining what had transpired to that point.
Because of the ties that bind a community, Jr.'s funeral will be open to the public -- to all -- on Friday, March 14 at 1:30 p.m. at Northeast Presbyterian Church, 601 Polo Road, in Columbia.
Rev. John Desch will speak and share some of the teenager's words and photographs.
"It's a story of a courageous young man," Desch said. "He had a deep love for his family. He had a deep love especially for his little brother."
The hope for the ceremony, Desch said, is to "sort of wrap up his story with the end that it deserves but also to minister to all the vets out there."
"I think it's going to be very powerful for a lot of people," he said.
Red's son Billy, 65, said his dad died in 2017 but this service would have made his father proud.
"Everything we're doing, every decision we make, we ask what would Pops do," Billy said. "Unfortunately, he passed away. Heck, they're probably together right now."
It's a comforting thought, that Red and Jr. were brothers separated but only briefly, that they are connected for all time by a family's love, that ours is more powerful than a mine could ever be.
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