thedrifter
09-07-04, 04:50 PM
Band Of Brothers: Family, friends determined to honor Marine for his split-second decision
Supreme Sacrifice
By KAREN D. SMITH
karen.smith@amarillo.com
T he same Tom Creek who wanted to keep his blood brothers out of Vietnam spilled his own blood to save Marine brothers fighting the war with him.
But the 18-year-old lance corporal's family knew nothing of his deliberate sacrifice Feb. 13, 1969, until more than a year after his death in South Vietnam.
In the spring of 1970, a Marine major knocked on the family's door to tell them Tom Creek would receive the government's highest award for heroism.
"You go through the whole year trying to put it behind you, and everything's really rough. And then, all of a sudden, a major comes to your door and says, 'Mr. and Mrs. Creek, President Nixon requests your presence at the White House,"' Tom's older brother, Ross Creek Jr. said.
Vice President Spiro Agnew presented the Medal of Honor to the Creek family on April 20, 1970, in Washington, D.C. Nixon left the task to Agnew while he traveled to Houston to greet astronauts miraculously returned from an Apollo 13 space mission gone awry.
Roy Creek was on his way to Vietnam, so the government flew him to the ceremony and then sent him on to Vietnam the next day, Ross Creek Jr. said.
Back at home, Amarilloans repeated the ceremony with Mayor J. Ernest Stroud proclaiming April 22, 1970, as Thomas E. Creek Day. The government later moved Tom Creek to a different grave site within Llano Cemetery, so a larger headstone could mark it.
"So, really, you go through the funeral all over again," Ross Creek Jr. said. "It brings up those old feelings. And we're proud of him. But that was pretty rough."
Tom Creek was among the ranks of veterans of a war the nation seemed to prefer to forget.
Ross Creek Jr. thinks a movement to recognize his brother has only just gained traction because American soldiers are again at war.
"You think if we didn't have young men and women dying overseas, would Tom Creek ever come up? No way," he said, shaking his head. "No way. For years, I talked with people. They didn't act like they cared. They didn't understand. They'd just say, 'Hey, get over it.' It's not just 'cause he's my brother. He's a veteran. All veterans should be appreciated, because without veterans, there's no country.
"Roy died last year, and I got to thinking, 'I'm the only survivor. When I die, there's nobody going to know about Tom."'
But a new band of brothers took up the cause.
A Public Reminder
Surfing the Web one day, veteran and military buff Keith Pelton ran across a site listing Medal of Honor winners and was surprised to find Tom Creek among them.
"That's the highest recognition that this country gives out, and very few people in Amarillo knew about Tom Creek," said Pelton, 42, who spent six years in the Marines Corps and a year in the Army. "I'd never heard of Tom Creek, and I just thought that was sad."
Pelton wrote a letter to the Globe-News in 2003 calling for recognition for Creek, which caught the eye of Amarillo businessman Larry Milam, an Army veteran and West Point graduate.
"I decided right then that I was going to write an Op-Ed piece to publish on Memorial Day," said Milam, who has since penned several pieces about Tom Creek for the Globe-News. He also collaborated with High Plains Public Radio for a Memorial Day 2003 radio segment about the Marine.
Creek didn't just save five lives when he fell on that grenade, Milam contends.
"His actions so inspired the others that they were bound and determined to finish that resupply mission," he said. "They routed the (Viet Cong) in the ambush. No more mortars, no more bullets, no nothing. To have 11 wounded, there was a lot of firing going on, but only one guy lost his life: Tom Creek.
"He so inspired everybody that those people didn't care if they lived or died. I don't know how much more one soldier can do than that."
The force supporting Creek's memory grew to include veterans of all ages, from World War II veterans Pat Cunningham, 81, a former Potter County commissioner, and Marvin Graham, 81, to Amarillo lawyer Selden Hale, a 66-year-old Marine Corps veteran.
"I get kind of uptight just thinking about it," Hale said. "I had always resented the fact that Amarillo had a Medal of Honor winner, and we go around finding imaginary heroes in our lives and nobody ever recognizes a 'conspicuous act of gallantry,' as the citation says.
"He made a decision, and he made it in about five seconds. Very few people do that. They'll run, or they'll go the other way. But he didn't."
Ideas for facilities that could carry Creek's name ranged from the now-completed Amarillo Northwest Branch Library to a proposed veteran's retirement home to be constructed in the Amarillo area. But none of those possibilities became reality.
In December, the group mustered about 30 veterans and supporters for an Amarillo meeting with Sylvia Nugent, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry.
Nugent told them that renaming the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center after Tom Creek would be possible and explained the process.
Tom Creek's brother and veteran brothers went to work obtaining written approval from the state offices of six veterans organizations, while Thornberry's office secured consent from every member of the Texas congressional delegation, Nugent said.
The next step was for Thornberry, R-Clarendon, to introduce it to the U.S. House of Representatives Veterans Affairs Committee.
On July 21, the panel voted unanimously to approve the measure that would change the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center name to the Thomas E. Creek Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. It should come to a full House vote in the fall, Nugent said.
"We're in this till the end," Milam said. "We're a band of brothers.
"For Selden and I and Pat and the others, it's been about a year and a half. For Ross, it's been 35 years. So our time on duty is pretty small compared to his."
The VA medical complex name change would be a step in the right direction, Milam said.
"Finally, people have come to recognize Tom Creek didn't want to go to Vietnam, but he did. But Tom Creek did want to save the lives of five compatriots," he said.
"I don't care how long it takes. I don't care what we've got to do. We can't rest, because we have not fulfilled our mission. And the other guy - Tom Creek - did."
Show of Character
What could propel a man to smother a grenade and lose his life?
The question brings tears to the eyes or lumps to the throats of the veterans interviewed - those who knew Tom Creek and those who didn't.
Such heroism isn't something learned, said Marine veteran Blaine Liljenquist, Tom Creek's platoon leader in Vietnam.
Tom Creek's sacrifice "had to be, in my opinion, instilled in him by his family," said the 61-year-old Liljenquist, who now lives in South Carolina.
"In that split-second, he was choosing to give his life. What an impressive thing to do. I can't even think ... ," Liljenquist said, his words trailing. "I don't think that's something instilled in you by the Marine Corps. That's got to be ingrained in you by your parents, your upbringing, your church. It's got to be in his character."
Reverent pauses also punctuate the opinions of Vietnam veteran Jack Casey, 68, who never met Tom Creek, but faced the same danger, the same death, in missions up and down South Vietnam's Highway 9.
"That comes from character deeper than I could explain," he said, growing silent. "I've got a friend who says, 'It's when character meets fate."'
Honoring Creek's Memory
Other memorials to Marine Lance Cpl. Thomas Creek include:
a street named after him at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune near Jacksonville, N.C.
Thomas E. Creek Day in Amarillo, declared by Mayor J. Ernest Stroud on April 22, 1970
Induction into the Palo Duro High School Hall of Fame in 1998
a photo and tribute hanging in the Maverick Boys & Girls Club, where Creek played catcher on a baseball team as a boy
Duty Details
At the time of his death Feb. 13, 1969, in South Vietnam's Quang Tri Province, Marine Lance Cpl. Thomas Creek served as a rifleman with Company I, 3rd Marine Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. He is buried in Llano Cemetery in Amarillo. His grave is near the north entrance on Arthur Street. His name can be found engraved on Panel 32W, Line 25, of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
continued.........
Supreme Sacrifice
By KAREN D. SMITH
karen.smith@amarillo.com
T he same Tom Creek who wanted to keep his blood brothers out of Vietnam spilled his own blood to save Marine brothers fighting the war with him.
But the 18-year-old lance corporal's family knew nothing of his deliberate sacrifice Feb. 13, 1969, until more than a year after his death in South Vietnam.
In the spring of 1970, a Marine major knocked on the family's door to tell them Tom Creek would receive the government's highest award for heroism.
"You go through the whole year trying to put it behind you, and everything's really rough. And then, all of a sudden, a major comes to your door and says, 'Mr. and Mrs. Creek, President Nixon requests your presence at the White House,"' Tom's older brother, Ross Creek Jr. said.
Vice President Spiro Agnew presented the Medal of Honor to the Creek family on April 20, 1970, in Washington, D.C. Nixon left the task to Agnew while he traveled to Houston to greet astronauts miraculously returned from an Apollo 13 space mission gone awry.
Roy Creek was on his way to Vietnam, so the government flew him to the ceremony and then sent him on to Vietnam the next day, Ross Creek Jr. said.
Back at home, Amarilloans repeated the ceremony with Mayor J. Ernest Stroud proclaiming April 22, 1970, as Thomas E. Creek Day. The government later moved Tom Creek to a different grave site within Llano Cemetery, so a larger headstone could mark it.
"So, really, you go through the funeral all over again," Ross Creek Jr. said. "It brings up those old feelings. And we're proud of him. But that was pretty rough."
Tom Creek was among the ranks of veterans of a war the nation seemed to prefer to forget.
Ross Creek Jr. thinks a movement to recognize his brother has only just gained traction because American soldiers are again at war.
"You think if we didn't have young men and women dying overseas, would Tom Creek ever come up? No way," he said, shaking his head. "No way. For years, I talked with people. They didn't act like they cared. They didn't understand. They'd just say, 'Hey, get over it.' It's not just 'cause he's my brother. He's a veteran. All veterans should be appreciated, because without veterans, there's no country.
"Roy died last year, and I got to thinking, 'I'm the only survivor. When I die, there's nobody going to know about Tom."'
But a new band of brothers took up the cause.
A Public Reminder
Surfing the Web one day, veteran and military buff Keith Pelton ran across a site listing Medal of Honor winners and was surprised to find Tom Creek among them.
"That's the highest recognition that this country gives out, and very few people in Amarillo knew about Tom Creek," said Pelton, 42, who spent six years in the Marines Corps and a year in the Army. "I'd never heard of Tom Creek, and I just thought that was sad."
Pelton wrote a letter to the Globe-News in 2003 calling for recognition for Creek, which caught the eye of Amarillo businessman Larry Milam, an Army veteran and West Point graduate.
"I decided right then that I was going to write an Op-Ed piece to publish on Memorial Day," said Milam, who has since penned several pieces about Tom Creek for the Globe-News. He also collaborated with High Plains Public Radio for a Memorial Day 2003 radio segment about the Marine.
Creek didn't just save five lives when he fell on that grenade, Milam contends.
"His actions so inspired the others that they were bound and determined to finish that resupply mission," he said. "They routed the (Viet Cong) in the ambush. No more mortars, no more bullets, no nothing. To have 11 wounded, there was a lot of firing going on, but only one guy lost his life: Tom Creek.
"He so inspired everybody that those people didn't care if they lived or died. I don't know how much more one soldier can do than that."
The force supporting Creek's memory grew to include veterans of all ages, from World War II veterans Pat Cunningham, 81, a former Potter County commissioner, and Marvin Graham, 81, to Amarillo lawyer Selden Hale, a 66-year-old Marine Corps veteran.
"I get kind of uptight just thinking about it," Hale said. "I had always resented the fact that Amarillo had a Medal of Honor winner, and we go around finding imaginary heroes in our lives and nobody ever recognizes a 'conspicuous act of gallantry,' as the citation says.
"He made a decision, and he made it in about five seconds. Very few people do that. They'll run, or they'll go the other way. But he didn't."
Ideas for facilities that could carry Creek's name ranged from the now-completed Amarillo Northwest Branch Library to a proposed veteran's retirement home to be constructed in the Amarillo area. But none of those possibilities became reality.
In December, the group mustered about 30 veterans and supporters for an Amarillo meeting with Sylvia Nugent, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry.
Nugent told them that renaming the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center after Tom Creek would be possible and explained the process.
Tom Creek's brother and veteran brothers went to work obtaining written approval from the state offices of six veterans organizations, while Thornberry's office secured consent from every member of the Texas congressional delegation, Nugent said.
The next step was for Thornberry, R-Clarendon, to introduce it to the U.S. House of Representatives Veterans Affairs Committee.
On July 21, the panel voted unanimously to approve the measure that would change the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center name to the Thomas E. Creek Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. It should come to a full House vote in the fall, Nugent said.
"We're in this till the end," Milam said. "We're a band of brothers.
"For Selden and I and Pat and the others, it's been about a year and a half. For Ross, it's been 35 years. So our time on duty is pretty small compared to his."
The VA medical complex name change would be a step in the right direction, Milam said.
"Finally, people have come to recognize Tom Creek didn't want to go to Vietnam, but he did. But Tom Creek did want to save the lives of five compatriots," he said.
"I don't care how long it takes. I don't care what we've got to do. We can't rest, because we have not fulfilled our mission. And the other guy - Tom Creek - did."
Show of Character
What could propel a man to smother a grenade and lose his life?
The question brings tears to the eyes or lumps to the throats of the veterans interviewed - those who knew Tom Creek and those who didn't.
Such heroism isn't something learned, said Marine veteran Blaine Liljenquist, Tom Creek's platoon leader in Vietnam.
Tom Creek's sacrifice "had to be, in my opinion, instilled in him by his family," said the 61-year-old Liljenquist, who now lives in South Carolina.
"In that split-second, he was choosing to give his life. What an impressive thing to do. I can't even think ... ," Liljenquist said, his words trailing. "I don't think that's something instilled in you by the Marine Corps. That's got to be ingrained in you by your parents, your upbringing, your church. It's got to be in his character."
Reverent pauses also punctuate the opinions of Vietnam veteran Jack Casey, 68, who never met Tom Creek, but faced the same danger, the same death, in missions up and down South Vietnam's Highway 9.
"That comes from character deeper than I could explain," he said, growing silent. "I've got a friend who says, 'It's when character meets fate."'
Honoring Creek's Memory
Other memorials to Marine Lance Cpl. Thomas Creek include:
a street named after him at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune near Jacksonville, N.C.
Thomas E. Creek Day in Amarillo, declared by Mayor J. Ernest Stroud on April 22, 1970
Induction into the Palo Duro High School Hall of Fame in 1998
a photo and tribute hanging in the Maverick Boys & Girls Club, where Creek played catcher on a baseball team as a boy
Duty Details
At the time of his death Feb. 13, 1969, in South Vietnam's Quang Tri Province, Marine Lance Cpl. Thomas Creek served as a rifleman with Company I, 3rd Marine Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. He is buried in Llano Cemetery in Amarillo. His grave is near the north entrance on Arthur Street. His name can be found engraved on Panel 32W, Line 25, of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
continued.........