Lawrence Crider holds a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature, a Master's Degree in Organizational Management, an Elementary Teaching Credential, and a Community College Credential endorsed in four subject areas.
As a member of the U.S. Army he served as a tactical control officer in a hawk missile battery in Florida and a fire direction officer in a heavy artillery battery in Vietnam. He also spent twelve years in police work on two major metropolitan police departments-- first as an officer, then a trainer, and finally a sergeant.
In more recent years he has worked as an over-the-road truck driver, a vocational trainer, and a director of training at a private college. He has developed lesson plans that have been distributed nationally, has rewritten the refueling procedures for a major helicopter manufacturer, developed the curriculum for a federally subsidized vocational security training program, and written book reviews for Film and History magazine.
Crimean War Interest
In 1997 he joined the Crimean War Research Society (CWRS)
In 1998 he went on a ten day battlefield tour of the Crimea with Midas Tours
In 2000 he was elected to serve as the North American Agent for the CWRS
In 2002 he was awarded the Canon Lummis Trophy for best article in the War Correspondent
In 2004 he published his book, In Search of the Light Brigade and was a guest lecturer at the Florence Nightingale Museum in London
In 2005 he was elected to serve as Editor of the War Correspondent and he collaborated with Glenn Fisher to produce CWRS Special Publication 31 - an annotated transcription of Albert Mitchell's Recollections of One of the Light Brigade
In 2006 he was gratified to learn that Queen Elizabeth II had graciously accepted a specially-bound copy of In Search of the Light Brigade to repose in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle (see letter)