Today marks 55-years since Tom made the ultimate sacrifice, and I still remember the last time I saw him, and the last words he said to me; those words were “to keep America Free”.
I was in the Army, stationed at Ft. Riley KS in 1968 when I came home to Amarillo for a long weekend. One evening, I met up with some friends, near present day Amarillo Blvd. We were standing around telling jokes and stories; just shooting the bull, when I noticed two guys coming out of the darkness into the lights as they crossed the boulevard coming toward us. They were marching arm in arm, in cadence while singing the Marine Hymn. The two turned out to be Tom Creek and his brother Ross.
They joined us and we spoke for a little while. As we talked, I learned that Tom had joined the Marines and was about to go to Vietnam, so I asked Tom, why did you join the Marines, rather than one of the other services that might have been a little cushier? He stated his reason, ending with the words, “to keep America Free.” He let it be known that he was proud to be a Marine and he was going to do his part, to protect and preserve America. After that, the two of them marched away, the same as they had come, singing the Marine Hymn as they faded into the darkness; it seemed surreal – but it was real.
A few months later, in February 1969, I was in Vietnam. I had been there a few weeks when I received my first letter from home. In it, I learned that Tom had been killed in Vietnam; my first thought was about my own mortality and if I would make it home to see my family, or wind up like Tom and so many other American troops, that did not.
Communication with home was nothing like it is now; a letter to go home and then get a return letter back was a 2-week process, or longer; so, I reread that letter over and over until eventually I got another one. But as I kept reading the first letter, I would recall the last time I saw Tom and remember his words; and as I did, it increasingly etched the event into my mind – and it is still there today.
Later, when I returned home to Amarillo and learned of the way Tom died, and that he had been posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, it did not come as a surprise to me; because with or without the Medal of Honor, I knew Tom was a true American Hero.
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