Born 13 June 1894 in Bristol, Pennsylvania Graduated from Lehigh University as a professional mining engineer. In May 1912 he began training at Plattsburgh Cadet School before turning towards the Air Force. In April 1917 he began training at Mineola Field, Long Island and was promoted to Lieutenant on October 1, 1917. He was a pilot for the 1st Squadron in France from 1 November 1917 to 1 January 1918. He then was an instructor at Issoudon for one month. From 1 February to 1 April, 1918 he was Commander of the 102nd Air Squadron. From then until 12 September he was a pilot in the 20th Bomber Squadron. His plane was shot down and he was taken as a POW for the rest of the war. He returned to France on 1 December 1918 and held command of the Aerial Navigators Experimental Squadron. From 1 May to 1 September, 1919 he was a member of the American Relief Administration in the Baltic region. In July 1919, while in Paris, he met Merrian Cooper and joined the Kosciuszko Squadron as a pilot. As a pilot, he had over 50 operational sorties by July 1919

From Leigh University:
George M. Crawford, Class of 1917 George Crawford was a member of the Kosciuszko Squadron, a group of 10 American pilots who fought for Poland during its 1919-21 war with Russia. The group took its name from Tadeusz Kosciuszko, the Polish general who served with the Americans during the Revolutionary War. Crawford and the other Americans received the Cross of the Brave and the Polish Service Medal from the Polish government after the war. Crawford, who earned a B.S. in mining engineering, began military training in 1912 at the Plattsburg Cadet School. After America entered World War I in 1917, he completed flight training and was promoted to lieutenant. During the war, he served in France as a flight instructor, bomber pilot and commander of the 20th Bomber Squadron. Following the war, Crawford commanded the Aerial Navigators Experimental Squadron and served as a member of the American Relief Administration in the Baltic region.
From find a grave:George Marter "Buck" Crawford was one of the first American volunteer pilots to join the Kosciuszko squadron who flew and fought for Poland against the Bolsheviks in the aftermath of World War One. From the book "Flight of Eagles" by Robert F. Karolevitz and Ross S. Fenn, Brevet Press, 1974: "First came Lt. George Marter Crawford, who had returned to Paris from his assignment with the American Relief Administration in the Baltic region. A trim six-footer, "Buck" Crawford was born in Bristol, Pennsylvania, and had been a Lehigh University fullback before his enlistment in the Air Service in May of 1917. After preliminary ground training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he was sent to Mineola Field, Long Island, for flight instruction, and, upon earning his wings, he was among the first U.S. aviators ordered to France. Like Merrian Cooper and Cedric Fauntleroy, he was assigned to the training center at Issoudon prior to his transfer to a combat squadron. On September 12, 1918 -- on an observation flight in support of the St. Mihiel drive -- his plane was forced down in German territory, and Crawford was taken prisoner (exactly two weeks before Cooper was captured)." The post-WW1 Polish squadron of American pilots called themselves the Kosciuszko Squadron, named after the Polish patriot of the American Revolution, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, who volunteered his military and engineering skills to America's fight for freedom before returning to Poland to do the same. The Kosciuszko Squadron of pilots were repaying a debt they felt was owed to Poland for Tadeusz Kosciuszko.