Lieutenant-Colonel Napier Crookenden
9th Parachute Battalion
It was an eye-opener for me that you could never foretell how any one man or one person will react under fire. Even the toughest sportsman can collapse … In those days we hadn’t studied battle exhaustion or as they called in World War I shell shock and of course there was no question of counselling or any of these modern developments.
(IWM interview, 2 Jan 1996)
Born on 31 August 1915 in Chester, Cheshire, Napier Crookenden was the son of a First World War veteran. In his words, he “made up my mind to be a soldier when I was six years old.” After educated at RMC, Sandhurst, he took a commission with the Cheshire Regiment in 1935. The next year, he joined the 2nd Battalion on deployment to Egypt and Palestine. He first came under fire during Arab Revolt.
World War Graphic History 