Roy E. Creek | 1918-2016
E Company
507th Parachute Infantry Regiment
82nd Airborne Division
Roy E. Creek enlisted in the U.S. Army on May 24, 1940. He became the commanding officer of Company E of the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), 82nd Airborne Division.
On June 6, 1944, the 507th PIR’s parachute drop took place in very poor conditions: only three parachutes landed in the immediate vicinity of the Allied drop zone coded “T,” north of Amfreville and east of Gourbesville in the Cotentin Peninsula. The others were scattered throughout the region, and the regiment proved unable to fulfill its mission of blocking the northwest approaches to the La Fière causeway.
When Roy E. Creek landed in Normandy, he realized that his paratroopers were massively missing. At dawn on D-Day, he was close to the objective of the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (82nd Airborne Division), located at Chef-du-Pont, but which was not under American control at the scheduled time.
In the mid-morning of June 6, 1944, General James M. Gavin, second-in-command of the 82nd Airborne Division, was informed that the approaches to the bridge at Chef-du-Pont were undefended. He then decided to seize it and ordered the paratroopers present to seize it. Seventy-five men under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Maloney (commanding the 3rd Battalion, 507th PIR) arrived as reinforcements. The Americans managed to secure the east bank of the Merderet River but were unable to hold the position, which was battered by enemy fire. Especially since around 5 p.m. on D-Day, the Germans massively counterattacked to the north, at La Fière: General Gavin recalled Lieutenant-Colonel Maloney as reinforcements, who was to leave only one section to hold the bridge at Chef-du-Pont. 34 paratroopers remained on site under the command of Roy E. Creek and were quickly attacked by the Germans along the west bank, notably using a cannon causing additional losses in the American ranks and reducing Captain Creek’s section to only 20 able-bodied soldiers. In addition, around fifty Germans were still in Chef-du-Pont and engaged in combat. Creek urgently requested reinforcements; miraculously, a Douglas C-47 appeared in the sky, parachuting weapons (in particular a 60 mm mortar) and ammunition near the positions held by the Americans. Thirty minutes later, an officer and about a hundred soldiers arrived to reinforce Captain Creek. They were equipped with a 47mm anti-tank gun, which was immediately used to silence the German artillery piece on the west bank.
The paratroopers engaged in a particularly intense and very close-range battle. The Germans, reinforced by elements of Grenadier Regiment 1057 (91st Infantry Division), charged to capture the bridge, but five of them were shot down at point-blank range. Gradually, the intense fire slowed, allowing the Americans to reorganize: their adversaries withdrew by nightfall. Twenty-five paratroopers were wounded and untransportable. Around midnight, advance elements of Company K of the 8th Infantry Regiment (4th Infantry Division) from Les Forges established contact with the paratroopers, much to their relief.
Before the end of June 6, 1944, Creek returned to his unit east of the Merderet River in the Fière sector. He also participated in the difficult fighting of June 9 to repel German counterattacks.
At the end of the Battle of Normandy, Roy was promoted to the rank of Major (equivalent to Major in France). He then participated in the defense of the communes of Bastogne and Flamierge in Belgium during the harsh winter of 1944-1945. Wounded near the border between Belgium and Luxembourg, he was evacuated and did not return to the front lines until a few weeks before the end of World War II in Europe.
He left active service in August 1967 with the rank of Colonel.
In 2000, the commune of Chef-du-Pont renamed, in the presence of Roy E. Creek, the bridge he helped defend, which now bears his name.
Roy died on October 10, 2016 at the age of 98.
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