Augustine Joseph "Gus" Creaghan Jr.
T/5 in 603rd Engineer Camouflage Bn : Co C; HQ & Service Co
Military occupational specialty: 56 (postal clerk)
ASN#33007707
Born 1915 in MD, Died 1981
County of enlistment: Baltimore, MD
Other residence(s): Baltimore, MD; Pikesville, MD
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: nursery operators and flower growers
College education before the war: 2 years
Gus Creaghan was born on October 29, 1914 in Baltimore, MD, the middle child of five. His father was a farmer, and later a contractor, and the family lived in Pikesville, MD, just outside the Baltimore city limits.
In September, 1933, after graduating from high school, Gus joined his older brother John at the Jesuit novitiate in Wernersville, PA, to study for the priesthood. Sadly, their father died about six weeks later.
Gus likely completed two years at the novitiate, but did not go further as a candidate for the priesthood. (John, however, would become a Jesuit priest, earn a PhD at Princeton, and become a well-known classicist.)
When he registered for the draft, on October 16, 1940, Gus was working as the head farmer at Towson Nurseries in Towson, MD. His enlistment record shows that he enlisted on March 31, 1941, but his VA death record gives an enlistment date of November 23, 1942. In either case, he eventually was assigned to the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion, and saw service in Europe during the war, winning several awards.
His two younger brothers also joined him in World War II service—his brother Robert flew 34 missions over enemy territory with the 8th Air Force, and his brother Thomas served with the Army in Germany.
Gus was discharged from the Army on September 22, 1945 with the rank of CPL, and returned to Pikesville. In 1950 he was living with his mother, his older sister, and his brother Thomas in the family home, and working as a landscaping manager. In 1955, the city directory shows him working for Valley Landscape, and by 1957 he was vice-president there.
Little else is known of his life or work. He died on September 16, 1981 and is buried at St. Charles Borromeo Church Cemetery in Pikesville, MD.
Sources:
1920 census
1933 article in the Baltimore Sun (MD); he is studying for priesthood
https://www.newspapers.com/image/373481082/?terms=augustine%20j%20creaghan&match=1
1933 father's obituary in the Baltimore Sun (MD)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/373483605/?terms=augustine%20j%20creaghan&match=1
1940 census
1940 draft card
1941 enlistment record
1945 article in the Evening Sun (Baltimore MD) re his military career
https://www.newspapers.com/image/369639847/?terms=augustine%20j%20creaghan&match=1
1950 census
1955 Baltimore MD city directory
1957 Baltimore MD city directory
1981 VA death record
1981 Social Security death index
1981 Find a Grave record
1981 obituary in the Baltimore Sun (MD)