Craic On

Today is Memorial Day in the United States. I will be sure to plant flags on my uncles graves from Ireland. They are buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minnesota. Both Irish Uncles were part of the “Forgotten War” – the Korean War. Shortly after emigrating my uncles Frank and John were drafted into the Korean war to fill vacancies in the armed forces. They both were conscripted into the United States Army. My father – future brother-in-law to my uncles enlisted into the Army and was sent to Germany. My uncle Frank Creighton was poisoned by a snake in boot camp and never made it out of the United States. But my uncle John went to Korea. His plane picked up wounded and flew them back to Hawaii. My uncle John crew’s order’s – “To keep soldiers alive until further care in an army hospital.”

My uncle John was legendary in keeping soldiers alive along with the medical staff. He joked, he laughed, and sang all his tin pan alley songs like “Peg of my Heart” all the way across the Pacific Ocean. He became active in his VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) club later in life.

I would of never known about his story except I noticed when visiting over the Holidays as a young girl that he had Christmas cards from Texas. Many of the soldiers that he took care of never forgot him. He still received Christmas cards from Texas.