Wow! Great story.
My father fought in Italy with the 5th Canadian Armoured Division at Ortona, then in the breakthrough of the Gustav Linie just south of Cassino, the Hitler lines all the way to Rome. HIs unit spent the rest of 44’ on the Adriatic coast fighting near Rimmini and places further north. They were shipped to France in January 45’ and were deployed in Holland until VE Day. I remember him saying that the fighting in Italy was hellish, with the mountainous terrain giving the Germans the ability to dig in and force the Allies to fight ridge by ridge. His unit started out as a machine gun (Bren) company and was converted to mortars to deal with the terrain. The courageous achievements of Private Crawford and others like him are truly remarkable given the obstacles they faced.