Lieutenant-Colonel Des Crofton
Canadian Scottish Regiment

Lieutenant-Colonel Crofton remained seriously wounded in this exposed position for twelve hours when he was finally evacuated by our Medical Officer. Throughout these actions in Holland Lieutenant-Colonel Crofton’s fearless leadership, gallantry and devotion to duty were an inspiration to all ranks and in no small measure influenced the tide of battle. His splendid part in the liberation of Holland was in keeping with the highest traditions of the Canadian Army and of the Regiment he so faithfully commanded.

(Bronze Lion citation, 22 Dec 1945)

Born on 10 July 1905 in Ganges, British Columbia, Desmond Gerald Crofton was a sportsman and tennis player. Commissioned with the Canadian Scottish Regiment since the late 1920s, he went overseas as a platoon leader in August 1941. He commanded “C” Company in the D-Day landings and became second-in-command during the Normandy campaign. At the end of August, he succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel R.M. Lendrum on his transfer to command the Royal Regiment of Canada.

“We had many hard battles capturing Caen, and Falaise, and all the way across, and before we got to Calais, the first thing I knew I was the commanding officer,” Crofton recalled of his promotion to command the Canadian Scottish. He led the battalion until near the end of the year when he was hospitalized. The war diary observed, “He has been working quite hard and will profit from the forced rest his illness.” Majors A.H. Plows and L.S. Henderson took over until Crofton returned in January 1945.

During the crossing from Belgium into the Netherlands, Crofton “continued fearlessly, disregarding this fire, to control his men and direct the battle.” On 9 February, as he moved battalion headquarters closer into the fighting, his command vehicle came under intense small arms fire. A bomb blast smashed his right arm but he managed to crawl to a barn. He was evacuated to England where he would be hospitalized for five months. Command of the battalion passed to Major L.S. Henderson.

Crofton remained hospitalized in Canada for another two and a half years. His younger brother Lieutenant-Colonel Patty Crofton served in the Italian theatre and commanded the PPCLI after VE-Day. On demobilization, a local newspaper observed that “their combined stories would fall little short of covering the history of the Canadian army overseas.” The article added, “But both prefer not to talk about the war, unless as it concerns the two regiments and their historic records.”

He was twice elected president of the local Canadian Legion Branch and died on 27 April 1977 in Ganges.