The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
VC awardee honoured with memorial in his home town
First of two stones to be unveiledinmemory of First World War heroes from Perthshire
A Perthshire war hero honoured in his home town.
Pipers led a celebration in Comrie to commemorate Victoria Cross awardee John Manson Craig.
The procession was part of an official ceremony to unveil a memorial stone dedicated to him.
This was followed by a wreath-laying at the war monument and a civic reception in Comrie’s White Church.
Mr Craig was born in Invergeldie, north of Comrie.
At the age of just 21, the second lieutenant was serving in Egypt with the Royal Scots Fusiliers.
He organised a rescue party to relieve a post which had been ambushed by the enemy and helped remove the dead and wounded while under machine gun fire.
Another soldier was injured, as was the medical officer who went to his aid.
Mr Craig was also wounded while rescuing them but managed to take both men to safety.
He returned home and married Dundee woman Elizabeth Melville Henderson in Kettins in 1931. He served has been in the RAF during the Second World War.
After the war, Mr Craig stayed in Comrie. Described by those who knew him as a modest and generous man, he was said to have enjoyed spending time with his family, gardening and playing golf. He died in Crieff in 1970. The ceremony was led by newly appointed Perth and Kinross provost Dennis Melloy and featured pipers from Morrison’s Academy, Mr Craig’s old school.
It is the first of two memorial stones to local Victoria Cross heroes.
Next year, a ceremony will be held for William Davidson Bissett.
Mr Bissett was born in St Martins in 1893 and died in Wrexham in Wales.
He was 25 and a lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders when he was awarded the VC.
On October 25 1918, while commanding a platoon in France, Lieutenant Bissett was forced to take command of the entire company due to heavy casualties.
When the enemy launched a counter-attack he withdrew to a nearby railway but after their ammunition was exhausted he ordered a bayonet charge which drove the enemy back allowing him to establish a new line.
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Museum in Stirling Castle.
The memorial stone will be laid on October 25, 2018.