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Memorial service scheduled for WASP veteran in Louisiana

World War II veteran Charlyne Creger, a member of the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) died in Shreveport, La., Saturday, Jan. 1, at the age of 86.

A memorial service will be held at the Forest Park Funeral Home in Shreveport at 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 7.

Creger was born on Dec. 24, 1918, in Noble, Okla. Her first airplane flight was with internationally renowned aviator Wiley Post in 1927 at the age of eight. Creger received her WASP flight training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater and graduated in the final WASP class (44-W-10) on Dec. 7, 1944. Her World War II assignments included serving as an engineering test pilot at Waco Army Air Field.

Following her WASP career, Creger served as a U.S. Air Force nurse in the Korean War, and later studied anesthesiology in London under the anesthesiologist to Queen Elizabeth II. Creger served as Chief of Anesthesiology at Earl K. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge, La.

Creger was a tireless worker for WASP veterans' rights and later for the establishment of the WASP World War II Museum, which will be built at Avenger Field in Sweetwater.

About her experience of being a WASP, Creger had said, "Out of nothing, it made me something, because it gave me the courage to try anything."

In lieu of flowers, Creger had requested that donations be made in her memory to WASP Memorials, National WASP WWII Museum, P.O. Box 456, Sweetwater, TX 79556.

reprinted from the Sweetwater Reporter, January 6, 2004