Cecil County Army Corporal Believed in His Mission

Brandon M. Craig, who grew up in Maryland, was a high school football player, an outdoorsman and someone who would fix a family friend's roof after a storm to keep it from leaking.

He had been a carpenter and a restaurant cook, and he joined the Army last year because he "wanted to make something of himself," a cousin said last night. "He just wanted to make his life better."

Cpl. Brandon Craig, 25, who grew up in Earleville, in Cecil County, Md., died Thursday in Husayniyah, Iraq, of wounds from a roadside bomb, the Pentagon said yesterday.

"He really believed in what he was doing over there," his cousin Dawne Allen said last night. "He believed in what he was fighting for."

Craig was a graduate of Bohemia Manor High School in Chesapeake City, Md., where he started at tackle on offense and defense for three years, said Sean Lenz, a former assistant football coach at the school.

Craig made certain that his teammates put forth maximum effort, Lenz said. In Craig's senior year, the team won nine of 10 games, and "a definite reason for that was his leadership," Lenz said.

Gail Price, the school's lead secretary, said Craig climbed the roof of her Earleville farmhouse after a severe storm a few years ago to prevent leaks. "He was one of those kids that would reach out to help anybody who needed any assistance," she said.

Price said Craig "wanted to help other people have the kind of freedom he had."

He arrived in Iraq in early April, his cousin said, and would call home weekly "to let everybody know that he was okay . . . that he loved them and missed them."

He received an award for valor in recognition of his actions during an incident in Iraq, his cousin said.

Survivors include his parents, Mary Jane and Danny Craig; a brother, Ryan; a sister, Amber; and grandparents Nancy and Reggie Craig, all of Earlesville.