Never give up attitude results in WWII Vet
finally
getting medals
By Bob
Fallstrom
Decatur (IL) Herald and Review Community News Editor
FORSYTH
-- The long wait is over for Sonny Creason. His World War II
medals have arrived.
The
79-year-old Forsyth man served in the Amy Air Force from 1943 to 1945.
He was with the 492nd Fighter group of P-47 planes that went into France
on D-Day plus seven in 1944.
"We
were on the beach about eight weeks, flying cover for the infantry,
taking out trouble spots," Creason said.
"We
moved to an air base outside Paris and then into Belgium at St. Tron,
near Brussels. On New Year's Day 1945, with three feet of snow on the
ground, we were strafed. I was one of the first to jump into my foxhole.
Five guys piled in on top of me." He was unhurt in the attack.
Creason
and his unit were ticketed for the South Pacific when the war ended. He
was discharged in August 1945.
After
his discharge, he moved to Indiana. But his home in Boonville, Ind.,
burned in 1948, "I lost everything, including World War II stuff
like the Good Conduct Medal," he said. And he waited in vain for
the other medals he was entitled toi receive.
In early
1950 he began inquiries, contacting Veterans Administration offices in
Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois He had entered the Army from Kentucky in
the spring of 1943 and served as a radio/switchboard operator in
communications.
The
inquiries were unanswered. he was told the warehouse where the medals
were stored had burned. He persisted. "Send me the medals," he
pleaded.
Finally,
success. He received the following medals:
Cood
Conduct Medal
Victory
World War II Medal
"Ruptured
duck" honorable discharge button
European-African-Middle
Eastern Campaign Medal with two silver stars and two bronze stars.
American
Campaign Medal
Carbine
Marksman Medal
He also
received a Ninth Air Force Association patch and a Belgian fourragere.
The
medals have been framed for safekeeping.
His
brother-in-law, H. P. Jackson, enticed Creason to come to Central
Illinois.
He lived in Warrensburg before moving to Forsyth and worked for
the Park Leghorn Farm for 33 years before retiring in 1985. Now his
never-give-up attitude has been rewarded.
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