Willis Crawford

Willis Crawford (ca. 2959 – ca. 3002), was a general in the military of the Free Worlds League.

Biography

It has not been revealed in which year Willis Crawford was born, but he was a classmate of Anton Marik at the FWL's renowned Princefield Academy and mentioned to be older (Anton Marik was born in 2960). Crawford and Anton Marik were noted to be good friends, and on Anton's recommendation, Willis Crawford was assigned as commanding general to an attack against Hesperus II.

This attack was in fact the second phase in an offensive on the Lyran front that had begun with an attack on Loric in 3002. However, the Lyrans had reinforced Loric and bogged down the offensive into an eigth-month campaign. Captain-General Janos Marik was under great political pressure to succeed in the offensive, and ordered the second phase to begin prematurely while fighting still continued on Loric. On Hesperus II, Crawford's troops failed to meet their objectives in the initial landings, but he pressend on, presumably because of the pressure put on him to succeed. He admitted defeat only after suffering dreadful casualties and returned with less than half of his command.

The blame for the catastrophic failure was laid at Crawford's feet. On behalf of his friend, Anton Marik appealed to his brother Janos for leniency but Janos Marik refused as he was busy controlling the political fallout from the military debacle that endangered his own standing as Captain-General. Willis Craford was court-martialed and then shot. His execution was the first military execution in the Free Worlds League in over a century.

References

• Historical: Brush Wars
• Shrapnel antology ("Final Exam" short story)