Paul Terrance "Terry" Creagan Jr.
603rd Engineer Camouflage Bn : Co D
ASN#31125784
Born 1918 in IL, Died 2021
County of residence at enlistment: New Haven County, CT
Other residence(s): Rockford, IL; New Haven, CT; Hamden, CT; Minneapolis, MN; Bloomington, MN
United States Army, did not accompany the unit to Europe
Occupation before the war: stenographers and typists
College education before the war: Brown's Business College 1 year
Terry Creagan was born on June 14, 1918 in Rockford, IL, the oldest of six children. His father worked in a managerial position with a fire insurance company. They moved from Illinois to Nebraska during Terry's early years, but had returned to Rockford by the time Terry was in high school. Terry worked as a newspaper carrier for the Morning Star in Rockford, and graduated from St. Thomas' high school for boys in Rockford in 1936. He then completed a one or two-year program at Brown's Business College in Rockford.
In 1939, Terry's father was assigned a new role at his company's headquarters in New Haven, CT, and the family relocated. The 1940 census reported that Terry was working as a secretary.
He registered for the draft on October 16, 1940; at the time he was working at American Steel and Wire in New Haven and taking night courses at Yale. He was also a singer-soloist with a church choir in New Haven. He enlisted on June 19, 1942, giving his occupation as stenographer and typist.
Terry was first assigned to the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion but in early 1943 was selected for Officer Candidate School and transferred to Fort Sill, OK. He was commissioned a 2LT and stationed at Fort Bragg, NC, and was later stationed at Camp Chaffee, AR with the Army field artillery. Terry's three brothers also served during World War II, and his sister was a Navy nurse.
Terry married Catherine Desmond on May 10, 1943; they would go on to have five children: Michael, Richard, Katie, Tom, and Ellen.
After the war, Terry went back to work at American Steel and Wire in New Haven; by 1950 he was working as an office supervisor there. He eventually settled his family in nearby Hamden, CT.
Sometime in the late 1960s or 1970s, Terry and Catherine relocated to Bloomington, MN and Terry worked as a manager in the branch management training program at Diamond Laboratories. A former employee of his reported that "he was a great manager to work for. Taught me the basics of providing great customer service and sales support, and introduced me to warehousing/logistics. He had a high level of integrity and these lessons carried me through my career."
Terry died at the age of 102 on January 3, 2021 in Bloomington, MN. He is buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis, MN.
Sources:
1920 census
1930 census
1936 article in the Rockford Morning Star (IL) about his high school graduation
1940 census
1940 draft card
1942 enlistment record
1943 marriage record (search under Creagan)
https://www.ctatatelibrarydata.org/marriage-records/
1943 article in the Rockford Morning Star (IL) about his marriage
1943 article in the Rockford Morning Star (IL) about his military career
1947 city directory for New Haven, CT
1950 census
1956 US city directory for Hamden CT
1966 US city directory for Hamden CT
1987 US Public Records Index
2021 obituary in the Star Tribune (Minneapolis MN)
https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-tribune/142731027/
2021 Find a Grave record
2021 tribute archive
https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/19533068/Paul-Creagan/wall