Dropzone Normandy: The story of the American and British airborne assault on D Day 1944

Napier Crookenden was born on the 31st August 1915, the son of Colonel Arthur Crookenden CBE DSO, late of the Cheshire Regiment. He was educated at Wellington College and attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst where he gained the King's Gold Medal. Commissioned into the Cheshire Regiment as a Second Lieutenant in 1935, he complete a tour of Palestine with their 2nd Battalion. He was posted to a Territorial Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment in 1939, and accompanied them to France during the following year. He remained with this Battalion after the withdrawal from Dunkirk, until 1942 when he volunteered for the Airborne Forces. He attended parachute course 81 at R.A.F. Ringway, 6th to 16th September 1943. Upon completion of his airborne training and parachute course he was posted to the 6th Airlanding Brigade as the Brigade Major.