USMA Class of 1930. Cullum No. 8938.
He was the son of Frederick Gardner Crabb Sr. and Grace Nichols Crabb.
On Saturday, February 15, 1936, he married Nydia Garrison (1904-1955), the daughter of John Jennings Garrison of Brooklyn, New York, at the chapel, Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.
On March 4, 1967 as Frederick Gardner Crabb, he married Bernice Beckwith at Harris County, Texas.
Frederick Crabb was born and reared in New Haven, Connecticut. He attended Yale University and spent two years as a merchant seaman before he entered the United States Military Academy. After graduation, he joined the infantry. From 1933 to 1934 he attended school at Fort Benning in Georgia. He was then assigned to Hawaii. At the barracks of the company he commanded is a large bronze plaque stating that the company, when commanded by Second Lieutenant Crabb, won first place for all-around excellence in a Theater-wide competition. In Hawaii, he met and married Nydia Garrison. He attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then joined the Ordnance Corps. He was assigned as Ordnance Officer, 2d Armored Division, then commanded by General George Patton. He was with the division throughout the North African Campaigns. He was promoted to Ordnance Officer XIX Corps before the Normandy landing which was his assignment throughout the War in Europe. He became recognized as an expert on automotive and tank maintenance. Later assignments included tours with the United States Constabulary, the Industrial College and command of the Mount Rainier Ordnance Depot. At Mount Rainier, his wife Nydia died in an automobile accident. Later, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, spending time in Fitzsimons Hospital which caused a delay of three years in his retirement. In 1967 while working in Houston, he met and married Bernice Beckwith Becky Nicholson (1914-2006). Later they moved to the West Coast and settled at Santa Rosa, California. He experienced several illnesses, including a broken leg, deafness and his last illness, cancer. Survivors included his wife, Becky of Santa Rosa; three stepsons of Louisiana and Texas; one stepdaughter of California; one sister, Jeannette Havens [1915-1990] of New York and one brother, Richard Crabb [1907-1991] of Massachusetts.
Source: United States Military Academy Association of Graduates memorial.
