Army Spc. Shawn R. Creighton

Died April 8, 2006 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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21, of Windsor, N.C.; assigned to the 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Fort Wainwright, Alaska; killed April 8 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Stryker vehicle during patrol operations in Rawah, Iraq.

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Bertie County soldier was a generous man

WINDSOR, N.C. — Relatives of a soldier from Bertie County who was killed in Iraq remembered him as a generous man who was “always up to something.”

Spc. Shawn R. Creighton, 21, was killed April 8 when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle in Rawah, Iraq. He was assigned to Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

“I’ve had people come up and say, ‘Did you know I didn’t have money for my medicine and he paid it?”’ his mother, Donna Ward, said Thursday.

“He did a lot more than I ever knew.”

A friend from Alaska who’s a waitress told his mother and stepfather, Cola Ward, in a phone call that Creighton left behind a $100 tip when he heard she was having financial troubles, Donna Ward said.

The family also recalled another side of his personality — a wilder side that once caused him to set himself on fire, causing second- and third-degree burns.

“He was extremely danger-prone,” Donna Ward said. “He was danger-prone because he never slowed down. He was always the one to say, ‘Let’s go do something.’”

She said the serious soldier shown in his Army photo is not the son she remembers.

“That’s not really him; he’s too serious there,” his mother said. “He’s got more of an impish smile. And he’s got that impish smile because he’s always up to something.”

Creighton was last home in January, when he celebrated his 21st birthday. Creighton, who returned to Iraq in February for a second tour, was scheduled to leave in August.

Fort Wainwright officials said a prayer and remembrance service for Creighton has been scheduled Wednesday afternoon at the base’s Northern Lights Chapel.

— Associated Press