Biography - Craig, Laurence B.

NAME: CRAIG, LAURENCE B.
RANK: FIRST LIEUTENANT
SERIAL NUMBER: 0-547308
MOS: 1034 - NAVIGATOR
ASSIGNED: FEBRUARY 1945

First Lieutenant Laurence B. Craig, (1917 - 2003), was born on October 15, 1917 to Phillip and Rachel Kassoff. He graduated from the Astoria High School in Astoria, New York in 1932. He then attended Columbia University for two years but since the country was suffering during the Great Depression, he had to stop his schooling and go to work. Lieutenant Craig joined the Royal Canadian Air Force as a cadet in 1939. He received his commission on August 7, 1941 and initially trained as a pilot in Tiger Moths, and Soloed in a Hawker Hurricane. Became to old to be a Fighter Pilot and became an Observer, (Navigator, Radio Operator and Gunner). He taught Navigation for a time in the Royal Canadian Air Force and then transferred to the U.S. Army Air Corps in April 1944, and was assigned to the Emergency Rescue School at Keesler Field, Boloxi, Mississippi on July 4, 1944.

Lieutenant Craig was assigned to the Second Emergency Rescue Squadron as a Navigator on February 15, 1945. He flew combat mission throughout the Southwest Pacific and when the war was over he left the service on September 25, 1945.

Lieutenant Craig was an engineer, inventor and involved in many kinds of businesses, from the Import / Export business in Casablanca, Morocco, to the Automotive business here in the USA. He also invented a whole new technology in the flameless combustion of natural gas, which was applied to heat and hot water systems for commercial, industrial, and domestic applications. Though the company no longer exists, the technology he developed is still the cutting edge in Europe, where the cost of fuel is much higher than here.

Laurence B. Craig passed away February 17, 2003 at the age of 85. His son, Geoff Craig can be contacte by e-mail and lives in New York.

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