Maj. Gen. William Hutcheson Craig USA Ret.

Family-Placed Funeral Notice

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM HUTCHESON CRAIG Maj. Gen. William Hutcheson Craig, USA Ret., 95, died on Feb. 1, 2006, at Water's Edge, Palm City, Fl. He resided in the Stuart, Fl. area for 38 years. Born in Nashville, Tn., he attended the West Point Prepatory School at Ft. McPherson, Ga. as an enlisted man and entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1930. He lettered in soccer, sang in the cadet choir, and became a cadet officer, graduating from the Academy in 1934. Early on, Gen. Craig showed a special talent in planning and organization and in this capacity served on the HQ staff of the Seventh Army in WWII in North Africa, southern France, Germany and Austria. At war's end, he was assigned to the U.S. Constabulary that occupied and policed Germany. Returning to the United States, he graduated from the National War College in 1948. He was ordered to Korea in 1958 where he served as Chief of Staff of the 1st Cavalry Division. Subsequently, he worked in the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon and traveled to the Far East and Africa, assessing the military preparedness of developing countries. After a trip to Vietnam in 1961, in the company of Gen. Maxwell Taylor and Mr. Eugene Rostow, he was received in the Oval Office by President John F. Kennedy. Gen. Craig's most significant command responsibility was as head of the Army Security Agency in Arlington, Va. where he oversaw some thirty battalion-sized units located around the world. These stations, under the technical supervision of the National Security Agency, electronically eavesdropped on the Soviet Union. During his career, General Craig was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the nation's highest peacetime award, on three separate occasions. His decorations also included the Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster and the French Croix de Guerre. He retired in Aug. 1968 at the same post, Ft. McPherson, where he began his military career almost 40 years earlier, as an enlisted man. Gen. Craig and his wife, Peggy, moved to Stuart, Fl. in 1968. He took an active role in the community, serving on the High Point Community Board of Sewell's Point and the vestry of St. Mary's Episcopal Church. For the past nine years the Craigs have been residents of Sandhill Cove in Palm City. Survivors include his wife of 63 years; his two sons, Col. William Gavan, USA Ret. of Greensboro, Ga. and Marshall Craig of St. Petersburg, Fl.; and three daughters, Helen Lavery and Anne Craig of Palm City and Peg Craig-Kennelly of Port St. Lucie, as well as five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Interment will be in the Memorial Garden at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Stuart. The services will be private.