When Creighton Abrams was a small boy, the family moved to Feeding Hills and after living in several rented locations, built a home on North Westfield Street. The father, Creighton Abrams Sr., worked as a repairman for the Boston & Albany Railroad and was interested in all the activities of a very busy son. Creighton was involved in 4-H Club work, raising baby beef and pigs and in 1929 was selected to represent the Hampden County boys at Camp Field at Brockton Fair. A local 4-H leader recalls the day in the summer of 1927 when she and Otis Hall, County Director, visited the Abrams home. Creighton was not there and his mother remarked ruefully that he seemed to be giving up 4-H for other interests. Mr. Hall responded with his usual eager enthusiasm, "We're not trying to make farmers out of all these boys. We don't care how many hogs or cabbages he raises; it's the boy we're interested in. We're trying to build self-reliance, good judgment and character. For many, 4-H is a stepping stone."
At school, Creighton was a good student and his teachers remember him as a dependable boy of firm character. In his spare time he trapped muskrats, an activity in which he was usually accompanied by his dog. He patched a wheezing Model T, learned to shoot by drilling holes with his .22 through tin cans tossed up by his father, and played his favorite sport, football. In 1931, he was captain and center of Agawam High School's football team through an unbeaten, untied and unscored-upon season. Creighton was described in his class yearbook as the "loudest, happiest, fightinest man on the team."
He was on the staff of the Agawam Mirror, Class officer, Student Council, Pro Merito and other activities. He was voted the best all-around boy and the most likely to succeed.
The class prophecy in the yearbook of 1932 says: "And didn't you get a thrill last week when you read the headlines 'Major General Abrams Leads Attack on Russian Revolutionists.' "
Creighton Abrams was Army-oriented even then. His speech as class orator started with the fact that the date was the two hundredth anniversary year of the birth of George Washington, "the man who as a boy led his playmates in mimic battles and as a man led a nation in a dreadfully real war."
To illustrate the High School's ability to win over larger schools, he told of a battle in ancient history where a small army won over a large one, and he seemed to be thinking even then in terms of tactics.
Agawam High School Football team. Back row, Benoit, Provost, Jones, Tisdel. Front Mosely, Pond Roberts, Abrams, Parent, Ray mond In the same address, he spoke to the school staff, "You will take this High School system through this period of depression just as Washington led his Army through the winter at Valley Forge with a clear head and a confident spirit."
When the hoped-for appointment to West Point came through, Creighton was so jubilant that he rushed out of the school and seeing his sister, picked her up and whirled her about in dizzying circles yelling, "I got it, I got it!"
He was soon sobered by the realization that he would have to have $300 in order to start life as a cadet. Due to the depression, his father was working only part time and that was a very large sum. School Superintendent Benjamin Phelps told him to go and see Mrs. Minerva Davis. Although the errand was not to his liking, he went. Mrs. Davis loaned him the $300, which he paid back after graduation from West Point.
General Creighton W. Abrams, US. commander in South Vietnam, discusses the military situation in Vietnam with President Johnson and his advisors October 29 at the White House in Washington. 1968. White House.
In 1939, as Lieutenant Abrams, he was speaker at a High School assembly and made a lasting impression on the students.
Years later, when he took command of the 3rd Armored, he moved to Germany with his wife and four of their six children. He stated that "if there is going to be trouble I prefer to be right there. This is the job I want."
Agawam people were glad that a man like Creighton Abrams was out there on the job during the war, and are proud to have known him during those early years of his life.
Additional Sources:
www.3ad.us
www.jodyharmon.com
www-cgsc.army.mil
www.generalhieu.com
www.usarmor-assn.org
www.lewis.army.mil
www.army.mil
www.pattonsgallery.com
teachpol.tcnj.edu
www.i-kirk.info
americanhistory.si.edu
