Sergeant William Craig

William Craig, born in Eire, son of John and Sarah Craig and husband of Constance May Craig, of Somercotes, Derbyshire, enlisted into the Royal Ulster Rifles.

In September 1941 he was one of the earliest volunteers for airborne forces and after his selection training at Hardwick Hall he was posted to A Company, 3rd Parachute Battalion and then sent on No 3 Parachute Course to RAF Ringway. This was the third course of training parachutists for the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 1st Parachute Brigade and it commenced on 5 December and was completed on 13 December 1941. The course comprised of 7 Officers and 235 men of the 2nd & 3rd battalion’s, under the overall command of Major G Rothery of the 3rd Battalion.

Sergeant Craig was later posted to 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment and served on Operation Torch in North Africa.

Sgt Craig was killed in action on 27 December 1942 aged 22 years. He was originally buried at Beja Civil Cemetery and was re-interred at Medjez-El-Bab War Cemetery in Tunisia on 25 July 1944.

If you are part of Sgt Craig's family and would like to complete this biography, you can apply to the curator to do so. To do this you will need to become a member of ParaData and select the 'friend or family member' option on the registration form. If you would like to find out more about becoming a member please visit ourregistration page.

Members of ParaData can submit their material by clicking on the 'add your info' button below.