Richard Creamer was born on March 16, 1924, in Buffalo, New York. He enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Army Air Forces on December 12, 1942, and was commissioned a 2d Lt in the U.S. Army Air Forces on April 15, 1944. After completing P-51 Mustang upgrade training, Lt Creamer joined the 487th Fighter Squadron of the 352nd Fighter Group in England in September 1944, and served in combat with the group until returning to the United States in November 1945. He left active duty and joined the Air Force Reserve on December 18, 1945, and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force Reserve on May 16, 1955.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.