Lieutenant-Colonel Jim Creighton
Seaforth Highlanders of Canada

Some of the boys who had been wounded before or during the attack on Oronta and who had not met Col. Creighton since he was a company commander were anxious to learn all about him. The Seaforths have been the most fortunate regiment in the matter of leadership. With the appointment of Col. Hoffmeister to the command of the brigade, we felt the loss of his personal leadership intimately.

(Maj. Roy Durand in The Province, 17 Jun 1944, 46)

Born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia on 26 April 1903, Allen James Creighton graduated from RMC, served with the Canadian Engineers, and completed an engineering degree from McGill before settling in British Columbia in 1926. He was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Albro Creighton, who was killed in 1916 in command of the 1st Battalion. A lumberman and militia officer with the Seaforth Highlanders, Creighton went overseas with the regiment in December 1939.

After being second-in-command under Lieutenant-Colonel J.M.S. Tait in England, Creighton took up instructional duties at the War Staff College. He returned to Canada in late 1942 and served as chief of staff at RMC from December to October 1943. He then reverted from lieutenant-colonel to major to go back overseas and joined the Seaforths in Italy before the end of the year. Just after the Battle of Ortona, on 30 December, he succeeded acting commander Syd Thompson who left for a senior officers’ course in England.

Of the conditions fighting in Italy, Creighton observed, “It has all the hardships of a war with none of the glory.” After five months in command, he was recalled by National Defence Headquarters to become director of military training in Canada. Major Thompson took over on 16 May 1944. Creighton ended the war with the rank of brigadier as part of the Pacific Force and retired from the army in 1946. For his work in this position, he earned the US Army Legion of Merit.

He died in Vancouver on 26 March 1987.