Captain Crone was the pilot of a F-86A Sabre Jet fighter bomber with the 334th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 4th Fighter-Interceptor Group. On June 18, 1951, while on a combat mission, his flight of four F-96s was attacked by a flight of eight MiG-15s. His aircraft was hit and crashed. He was listed as Missing in Action and was presumed dead on December 31, 1953. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.