# Denton Crocker Junior **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 11, 2026, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/denton-crocker-junior/1033746 "2026-10-11T14:40:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/denton-crocker-junior/1033746/1 "2026-10-11T14:40:39Z")
I watched Ken Burns Vietnam war series recently over the summer, and I learned about Denton Crocker Junior, a man who briefly ran away from home at 17, wouldn’t come back unless his parents agreed to let him enlist, which he did, became a paratrooper at 18 and was shipped off to Nam around October '65. Once there he was bored workin in the rear echelon, intentionally fouled up his work so he was reassigned to the front lines in early '66, towards the summer he wrote home saying he needed a break from cracking up, next operation he was on was Operation Hawthorne, ordered as point man on June 4th in the early morning to walk up the crest of a hill in Kontum province to relieve an ARVN position. He died on that mission, he was 19 and one day after his birthday. This guys life stuck with me, I don’t know why, but all the things he did at such a young age, and never to return home, I don’t know, I feel like a parasocial grievance for him. If anyone’s interested, his mother wrote about his life and its available for download at the Library of Congress website. [Here is the link](https://www.loc.gov/collections/veterans-history-project-collection/serving-our-voices/service-branches/this-well-defend-the-us-army/item/afc2001001.11174/) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/denton-crocker-junior/1033746/2 "2026-10-11T15:04:27Z")
> [@Ryan\_Liam](#): > > he needed a break from cracking up What does that mean? My first thought on the words “cracking up” is “laughing uncontrollably”, second thought is “having a mental breakdown”. Neither seems to fit the context of that sentence, so maybe there is a third meaning I’m unaware of. ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/denton-crocker-junior/1033746/3 "2026-10-11T15:09:34Z")
Means from cracking from the stress of combat operations I guess ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/denton-crocker-junior/1033746/4 "2026-10-11T21:18:58Z")
He sounds like another victim of 20 years of active propaganda via Hollywood war movies. Willing fodder. ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/denton-crocker-junior/1033746/5 "2026-10-13T00:24:40Z")
It’s a shame, he was a smart guy, had a lot to look forward to in his life ahead of him