The Rev. Don McCrossan; Former Director of Victory Service Club

The Rev. Don McCrossan, an evangelist who dropped in on the old Victory Service Club at 226 S. Main St. in Los Angeles midway through World War II and stayed until he had seen it play host to more than 3 million servicemen, died Thursday of cancer.

McCrossan, who retired in 1975, was 81 and died in his Costa Mesa home.

McCrossan became director of the club, which operated under auspices of the Union Rescue Mission, in 1943. Through World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars, it was a place where young men and women in a strange city could gather for food and friendship.

It also was a place of faith, McCrossan said in a 1961 interview, a place where tens of thousands formally accepted Christ and hundreds more were inspired to enter various ministries.

McCrossan also was a singer and composer and a radio announcer on station KGER in Long Beach. Among his compositions were “On the Jericho Road,” recorded by Elvis Presley and Tennessee Ernie Ford, “Bible-Loving Man” and “Only a Look.”