This Military Service Page was created/owned by
A3C Michael S. Bell (Unit Historian)
to remember
Carter, Earl Cecil, SSgt.
If you knew or served with this Airman and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
REMEMBRANCE IN PROGRESS - SUBJECT TO CHANGE ------ From Patriot Guard Riders:
25 Nov 2009 8:05 PM Quote Reply Alert
*** Confirmed Mission, Earl C. Carter, WWII vet, Charleston, WV, 28 November 2009 ***
The family of Earl C. Carter has invited the Patriot Guard Riders to stand up a mission of honor at his funeral on Saturday, November 28th. According to his daughter, Earl was a USAAC Staff Sergeant in WWII, where he served as a ball turret belly gunner; he flew 15 combat missions over Germany. In his post-service years, Earl was an active member of the VFW and the American Legion. He and his wife had been married for over 62 years, and I'm sure Earl will be greatly missed by his life-long companion.
Although this is a holiday weekend, please try to find time to come out and honor another one of America's "Greatest Generation", who has sadly passed from this life. We will be standing up a flag line at the church, and upon completion of the church service, we will also be providing an escort from the church to the cemetery in Cross Lanes. If your bike/cage is capable of safely flying flags, please come prepared to do so. The weather forecast indicates it will be sunny, with a high in the low 50s, so please dress accordingly, and please remember to bring your 3x5 flags for the flag line. The Barlow-Bonsal Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Staging location: Christ Church United Methodist, 1221 Quarrier Street, Charleston WV (we will meet in the corner of the parking lot...look for the bikes) Time: 0930 with mission brief at 0950 Flag line: In place from 1000-1100, and then again at the close of the service when he is taken from the church. We will also be providing an escort from the church to the cemetery in Cross Lanes (Tyler Mountain Memorial Gardens).
The assigned Ride Captain for this mission of honor will be Buddy Palla, WVPGR ASC-South. He may be contacted at 304-610-1324. Please continue to monitor this thread for any additional/supplemental information.
Other Comments:
From Barlow-Bonsall Funeral Home:
Earl Cecil Carter, 83, of Charleston passed away at home after a long illness with cancer on Wednesday, November 25, 2009. He held a variety of executive and management positions with AAA and NAA (National Auto Association), serving West Virginia. He actively pursued network marketing and other entrepreneurial endeavors throughout his career. He was personally committed to opportunities for veterans through the launch of the Manufacturing of America Company.
He had been a member of Christ Church United Methodist since 1958. Earl and his wife, Noka, were greeters for new and existing members.
Earl served in the Air Force and was a veteran of WWII, serving in the Mighty Eighth Division. He was trained to be a Ball Turret (Belly Gunner) on a B-24 airplane. He flew the last seven out of nine missions over Germany and supported the end of the war, European Theatre. He received a disability medical discharge in 1945 as staff sergeant.
He was a member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rites of Freemasonry, Beni Kedem Shrine since 1963, and served as past commander of Legion of Honor. He was also a member of the Royal Order of Jesters Court 111 and founder of the VIP Room. He was soon to receive his 50-year membership award from Beni Kedem and was a member of the Charleston Masonic Lodge 153 AF&AM.
He was preceded in death by brother, Fred Carter; and sister, Irene Ladoucer.
He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Noka Jane Carter; three daughters, Kitty Hunt, Barbara Stutler, and Debbie Fejes, and their husbands, Doug Hunt, and Emitt Stutler, and Gary Fejes; five grandchildren, April Scott and husband, Rob, and Tabitha and Crystal Stutler and Mallory and Austin Hunt; and three great-grandchildren, Kalaya Stutler, Brayden and Peyton Scott. Hunt and Fejes live in Atlanta, Ga. Kalaya and Crystal live in Sanford, Fla. All other family members reside in Charleston.
Special thanks go to all HospiceCare workers who assisted and helped Earl and his family during their time of need. The family would also like to express their sincere appreciation and gratitude to Aaron Nagarajan, M.D., and his staff at the David Lee Cancer Center.
Funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, November 28, at Christ Church United Methodist with Dr. Randall Flanagan officiating. Burial will follow in Tyler Mountain Memory Gardens, Cross Lanes.
Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at Christ Church United Methodist, Charleston. You may send condolences to the family at www.barlowbonsall.com.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Barlow-Bonsall Funeral Home, Charleston.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to HospiceCare, 1006 Kanawha Blvd. W., Charleston, WV 25312, or Christ Church United Methodist, 1221 Quarrier St., Charleston, WV 25301. ------ At 28 Nov 2009 4:46 PM
RE: Earl C. Carter, USAAC, WWII Veteran, Charleston, WV, 28 NOV 09 by deaconbiker
**** Mission Accomplished ****
Today, we were privileged to stand in honor and respect for another hero from the World War II era. Friends and family of Earl C. Carter gathered together at Christ Church United Methodist in Charleston, WV to celebrate his life; Patriot Guard Riders assembled to honor him, because it was the right thing to do. Heroes from America's Greatest Generation are passing away from us much too quickly...we all owe them a huge debt of gratitude.
Yes, it was a holiday weekend, and yes, the temperatures were well below freezing for many who made the trip, but I am so thankful for those who were able to come be a part of this mission of honor. We had 11 bikes, 2 cages, and a total of 16 people in our flag line. I would especially like to thank those who came from such a great distance in freezing temperatures. Carol rode in all the way from Wheeling, the Sapios from Parkersburg, Carl and John from Huntington, Rick and Sharon from Ripley, an d the "Pat-pack" from Hinton.
The family repeatedly expressed their appreciation for our presence today, both at the church and at the cemetery. We had enough people to stand up two separate flag lines, one at each entrance of the church. After the service started, we got everyone inside to warm up, then re-established a single flag line outside as the service was about to end. When the casket was coming out, we rendered a salute as it was being placed into the hearse.
The funeral home had a lead vehicle with lights and a siren to lead the way, followed by the bikes, cages, hearse, and family vehicles. It was nice to see almost all the bikes flying flags of some sort. We arrived at the cemetery and set up another flag line for the family to walk along as they took their place at the burial canopy. Members of the VFW provided military honors (3-shot volley and "Taps"), and an Army Honor Guard squad did the folding of the flag and subsequent presentation . RCIC Buddy Palla and PGR member Carol Varner presented the condolence book and a coin to Mrs. Carter. The plaque will be presented to her next week as soon as it arrives.
Once the service was over, we set up a dual flag line along the steps leading away from the grave site, and as Mrs. Carter came by, we once again rendered a hand salute in her honor.
I would like to thank Senior Pastor Flanagan and the staff at Christ Church UM for welcoming us with open arms. I would also like to thank the folks from Barlow-Bonsall Funeral Home for working with us so well. It was evident that both of these groups had the interests of the Carter family at heart.
World War II
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
December / 1946
Description Overview of World War II
World War II killed more people, involved more nations, and cost more money than any other war in history. Altogether, 70 million people served in the armed forces during the war, and 17 million combatants died. Civilian deaths were ever greater. At least 19 million Soviet civilians, 10 million Chinese, and 6 million European Jews lost their lives during the war.
World War II was truly a global war. Some 70 nations took part in the conflict, and fighting took place on the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe, as well as on the high seas. Entire societies participated as soldiers or as war workers, while others were persecuted as victims of occupation and mass murder.
World War II cost the United States a million causalities and nearly 400,000 deaths. In both domestic and foreign affairs, its consequences were far-reaching. It ended the Depression, brought millions of married women into the workforce, initiated sweeping changes in the lives of the nation's minority groups, and dramatically expanded government's presence in American life.
The War at Home & Abroad
On September 1, 1939, World War II started when Germany invaded Poland. By November 1942, the Axis powers controlled territory from Norway to North Africa and from France to the Soviet Union. After defeating the Axis in North Africa in May 1941, the United States and its Allies invaded Sicily in July 1943 and forced Italy to surrender in September. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, the Allies landed in Northern France. In December, a German counteroffensive (the Battle of the Bulge) failed. Germany surrendered in May 1945.
The United States entered the war following a surprise attack by Japan on the U.S. Pacific fleet in Hawaii. The United States and its Allies halted Japanese expansion at the Battle of Midway in June 1942 and in other campaigns in the South Pacific. From 1943 to August 1945, the Allies hopped from island to island across the Central Pacific and also battled the Japanese in China, Burma, and India. Japan agreed to surrender on August 14, 1945 after the United States dropped the first atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Consequences:
1. The war ended Depression unemployment and dramatically expanded government's presence in American life. It led the federal government to create a War Production Board to oversee conversion to a wartime economy and the Office of Price Administration to set prices on many items and to supervise a rationing system.
2. During the war, African Americans, women, and Mexican Americans founded new opportunities in industry. But Japanese Americans living on the Pacific coast were relocated from their homes and placed in internment camps.
The Dawn of the Atomic Age
In 1939, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt, warning him that the Nazis might be able to build an atomic bomb. On December 2, 1942, Enrico Fermi, an Italian refugee, produced the first self-sustained, controlled nuclear chain reaction in Chicago.
To ensure that the United States developed a bomb before Nazi Germany did, the federal government started the secret $2 billion Manhattan Project. On July 16, 1945, in the New Mexico desert near Alamogordo, the Manhattan Project's scientists exploded the first atomic bomb.
It was during the Potsdam negotiations that President Harry Truman learned that American scientists had tested the first atomic bomb. On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay, a B-29 Superfortress, released an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan. Between 80,000 and 140,000 people were killed or fatally wounded. Three days later, a second bomb fell on Nagasaki. About 35,000 people were killed. The following day Japan sued for peace.
President Truman's defenders argued that the bombs ended the war quickly, avoiding the necessity of a costly invasion and the probable loss of tens of thousands of American lives and hundreds of thousands of Japanese lives. His critics argued that the war might have ended even without the atomic bombings. They maintained that the Japanese economy would have been strangled by a continued naval blockade, and that Japan could have been forced to surrender by conventional firebombing or by a demonstration of the atomic bomb's power.
The unleashing of nuclear power during World War II generated hope of a cheap and abundant source of energy, but it also produced anxiety among large numbers of people in the United States and around the world.
