Douglas Lee Crawford was born in January 1924 to Elmer and Annabelle Crawford. He attended the First Christian Church in Torrance, and graduated from Torrance High School in 1942.

Lieutenant Douglas Crawford was a Pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces. He had a reputation as a daredevil and once flew his plane under a bridge on the Mississippi River. In the Luke Field Annual, his commander was quoted as saying that he “did not think it was a good idea for Doug to fly their plane at the altitude of 3 feet!”

Douglas Crawford died in Oklahoma on October 22, 1943, when the plane he was traveling in as a passenger crashed. The plane was overloaded with passengers and was too heavy to fly above an approaching storm. They attempted to fly through it and were struck by lightning. There were no survivors.