Trooper D. E. Craw, MM; Palmerston North; born Palmerston North, 24 Apr 1917; sharemilker; wounded 19 Apr 1945. (Source: Loughnan, R.J.M. Divisional Cavalry. p.406.)

'The advance still continued, steadily and without remorse, though after midnight a ground mist began to develop which, combined with dust and smoke, so reduced visibility that direction could be maintained only by using compasses. Despite the cover this mist now provided for the attackers, the paratroopers fought back fanatically to deny every yard of ground and, in particular, the crossing of the immediate objective, the Quaderna Canal. But the attackers too, flushed with the success of their advance, were to be denied nothing. When they reached the canal, Trooper Craw was one of the first. He went straight across at the head of his section, firing his Bren from the hip, and this laid the pattern of behaviour for the others. In doing it, Craw suffered a bad wound in the thigh, but he led his men on until they had cleared two posts and caused the occupants of others to surrender. By the time this was done, though he was weak from loss of blood, he insisted on remaining forward until the section was dug in. Finally he had to be ordered back.' (Source: Loughnan, R.J.M. Divisional Cavalry. p. 406.) AWMM