Napier Crookenden
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Sir Napier Crookenden | |
|---|---|
 Lt. Col. Napier Crookenden (extreme right) with Gen Sir Bernard Montgomery | |
| Born | 31 August 1915 |
| Died | 31 October 2002 (aged 87) |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Service years | 1935−1972 |
| Rank | Lieutenant-General |
| Service number | 66121 |
| Unit | Cheshire Regiment |
| Commands | 9th (Eastern and Home Counties) Parachute Battalion 16th Parachute Brigade Royal Military College of Science Western Command |
| Conflicts | Second World War Malayan Emergency |
| Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Order Officer of the Order of the British Empire |
Lieutenant-General Sir Napier Crookenden KCB DSO OBE DL (31 August 1915 − 31 October 2002) was a British Army officer who reached high office in the 1960s.
Educated at Wellington College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst,[2] Crookenden was commissioned into the Cheshire Regiment in August 1935.[3][4][5]
He served in the Second World War as a brigade major in the 6th Airlanding Brigade in 1943 planning and implementing glider assaults to secure bridges over the River Orne on the day of the Normandy landings.[2] He served as commanding officer of 9th (Eastern and Home Counties) Parachute Battalion between 1944 and 1946[4] leading his regiment in the Battle of the Bulge and then the crossing of the River Rhine.[2]
He was Director of Operations during the Malayan Emergency between 1952 and 1954 and served as Commander of 16th Parachute Brigade from 1960 to 1961.[4] He went to the Imperial Defence College in 1962.[4] He was appointed Director of Land/Air Warfare at the Ministry of Defence in 1964 and then Commandant at the Royal Military College of Science in Shrivenham in 1967.[4] He became the last General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Western Command in 1969 and retired in 1972.[4]
Retirement
In retirement he became a Deputy Lieutenant for Kent.[2] He was also a lecturer on military history on the P&O steamship Uganda.[2]
Family
In 1948 he married Patricia Nassau, daughter of Hugh Kindersley, 2nd Baron Kindersley, and they went on to have two sons and two daughters.[2]
Notable works
- Crookenden, Napier (1978). Airborne at War. Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-0771-0.
- Crookenden, Napier (1980). Battle of the Bulge 1944. Scribner. ISBN 978-0-684-16614-8.
- Crookenden, Napier (1976). Dropzone Normandy. The Story Of The American And British Airborne Assault On D Day 1944. Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-0660-7.
