Randal H. Crouse was born in Maryland on March 9, 1888, the son of Gustavus and Lillie M. Crouse of York, Pennsylvania. His parents divorced before 1910, and his mother owned two boarding houses in York, the Avon and the Carroll. Crouse enlisted as an officer in the United States Army in 1917 and was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in April 1918. He served with the 112th Infantry Regiment, formerly a Pennsylvania National Guard unit, and participated in active combat along the Western Front in France between May 1918 and November 1918. He remained in Europe until the spring of 1919, and continued to live in York after the war. He died there in May 1971.
From the guide to the Randal Crouse papers, Crouse, Randal papers, 1908-1919, 1917-1919, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
