Cranston

James Bird Cranston was born in 1914 in Haddington, close to Edinburgh. The son of James Buchan Cranston and Anne Crookston Bird.

He married Helen Baptie Halliday in 1936 in Bolton.

Lt. Cranston is mentioned several times in the KOSB Official War Diary for his ability to bring back enemy intelligence from his numerous patrols. These deeds were also reported in newspapers at that time.

He continued to show courage under fire when the Bttn were in Belgium near the Escaut Canal.

He was wounded in October 1944 whilst serving with the Royal Scots as Acting Captain and died in Ainslie Hospital (Edinburgh) on the 22nd May 1945 just a couple of weeks after VE-Day. He is buried in his local cemetery in Haddington. He was just 31 years old.

Credits:

Main newspaper clipping - Escaut - from The Evening News, October 11, 1944

Edinburgh Men in Normandy - from the Edinburgh Evening News, July 6th, 1944.

Gravestone photo from Janeanne, FindaGrave - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69031076/james-bird-cranston