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Community leads memorial for Comrie war hero

John Manson Craig VC 
Photo, Pictured at the ceremony in Comrie, Lord Lieutenant Mel Jameson is Pictuerd With Perth Provost Dennis Melloy  and members of the John Craig family pictured by the memorial stone.
John Manson Craig VC Photo, Pictured at the ceremony in Comrie, Lord Lieutenant Mel Jameson is Pictuerd With Perth Provost Dennis Melloy and members of the John Craig family pictured by the memorial stone.

A Perthshire war hero has been honoured in his home town.

Pipers led a celebration in Comrie to commemorate Victoria Cross winner John Manson Craig.

The procession was part of an official ceremony to unveil a memorial stone in Mr Craig’s name.

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.

John Manson Craig
John Manson Craig

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 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.

He served with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps and Royal Pioneer Corps in the Second World War and achieved the rank of major.

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.