US Army SFC Edward Carter Jr.: Medal of Honor Recipient WWII

Welcome back everyone!  

Before we get into today's episode, which I’m sure you’re going to enjoy, I have two quick things for you.  

First off, I wanted to recommend a book to you, and this isn't a paid advertisement, just a personal recommendation.  It’s obvious that you listen to Duty & Valor because you like hearing the stories of our American heroes.  Hearing these stories is one thing, but seeing photos that bring you into the story takes your experience to a new level.  

So if you want to take it further I recommend you buy the recently published book by Richard Sherman titled Never Home: Remembering The Military Heroes Who Never Returned.  

Richard, a former US Navy officer and Gulf War veteran is a professional photographer who captured images of all 23 overseas cemeteries where over 200,000 American WWI and WWII heroes are memorialized. Through his images, you can experience the tranquility of the grounds and the reverence of the ceremonies honoring the fallen.  In addition to capturing the beauty of the locations, the book also features the stories of some of the fallen heroes through their biographies and gravesite photos.

You can find out more about Richard and his book at neverhomeheroes.com and I’ll also put a link to his website in the show notes.  Please take a look for yourself because my words don’t do his work justice.  

Secondly, before we get into today’s main story, I wanted to share the Medal of Honor story from the Duty & Valor YouTube channel about Navy hospital corpsman second class David Ray who was attached to a Marine Corps unit during the Vietnam War.   

David Ray was focused on one thing that day, saving lives.  He sacrificed himself to ensure the Marine he was treating was able to return home to his loved ones, and for that we should never forget him.

Now on today’s main story, you’ll hear the story of SFC Edward Carter Jr.  From his early days fighting in foreign wars to his heroic actions on the battlefields of World War II, we’ll honor the legacy of a man who fought not just for his country, but for the recognition and dignity of all who serve and this is his story. 

Edward was born on May 26, 1916 in Los Angeles to parents Edward Carter Sr., a black American and Mary Carter, of Indian descent.  His parents were missionaries and moved their family to Calcutta, India when Edward was nine.  There the family founded a church, but things didn’t go well for them.  Edward had conflicts with his father and repeatedly ran away from home.  Also, when Edward was young, his parents separated and his mother left the family, taking the church funds with her.

Because of this, Edward Sr. was forced to return to the US with Edward Jr. and siblings.  While enroute back, William, the youngest boy, was suspected of having typhoid, so they were all forced to leave their ship at Shanghai, China.   Even after William recovered, Edward Sr. decided to remain in China.  Edward Jr. was soon placed into a Chinese military academy.  There Edward received a good education and became fluent in English, Mandarin, Hindi, and German.

In 1932, the Japanese attacked Shanghai, which compelled a 15 year old Edward to lie about his age and fight alongside Chinese and British forces, and after just a month, he had attained the rank of lieutenant.  His father disapproved of his young son serving in combat and successfully petitioned his influential contacts to have Edward removed from the front lines.  He got what he wanted and Edward Jr. was then sent back to his military academy.

Around the time he was 18, Edward joined the Merchant Marines and eventually made his way back to Los Angeles.  Though he tried hard to find work, he was unsuccessful due to the state of the economy of that time, and being a black man.   

A few years later, the thought of fighting in combat drew Edward to Spain where he fought for the Government Faction in the Spanish civil war against the forces of the Nationalists military faction supporting the coup of 1936.  There Edward joined the Abraham Lincoln brigade.  This brigade was primarily composed of English speaking foreigners.  He was captured after being wounded in combat, but eventually escaped to rejoin his unit.  He fought until the end of the civil war, where the nationalists, supported by Germany and Italy, were victorious.     

In 1940, Edward met and married Mildred Hoover and they had two boys, Edward III and William.

Edward enlisted in the US Army the following year, just two months before the US entered WWII.  Due to his previous combat experience, he quickly moved up the ranks and was a staff sergeant within a year.  The Army of the time was still segregated and Sgt. Carter and the men of his unit faced rampant racism while training in the US and while serving in Europe as well.

Initially, all-black units weren’t allowed to fight in combat, rather they were relegated to support roles.  For some time Sgt. Carter was a cook, a baker, and then placed on supply duty when his unit was in France.  

As the frontlines moved further West and casualties mounted, the Army was in need of trained infantrymen.  By the end of 1944, the decision was made to allow black soldiers to fight in combat, but they had to be led by white officers.  Sgt. Carter, and many others, volunteered.  But as was required, any black volunteers had to agree to being reduced in rank to private as the Army didn’t want any black soldier leading white men.  Carter agreed and was soon fighting with distinction with the 56th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division.

Private Carter was the first black squad leader in his company and was regarded by his company commander as “one of the best leaders we had in that company”.  As I continue telling his story, I won’t reference his rank unless I am completely what it was at the time, as it wasn’t clear how long he remained a private and when he received later promotions. 

On March 23, 1945 Carter and his unit were fighting the Germans on their home soil.  That day he was atop a tank near Speyer, Germany when it was hit by an anti-tank rocket.  He and his squad were forced to find cover in a road bank, where they were pinned down by intense enemy fire.  Carter then volunteered to lead three men in a patrol towards a nearby warehouse where a majority of the enemy fire was coming from.  Between them and the warehouse there was very little cover across an open field.  

As the men left their covered position, enemy fire targeted them, killing one instantly.  Carter ordered the two others back and told them to cover his movement as he moved forward alone.  Before the two men could reach the relative safety of nearby cover, one soldier was killed and the other seriously wounded, but Carter carried on.  As he advanced, he was hit by machine gun fire three times in his left arm.  But even this didn’t stop him.  

He advanced even further until he was hit in his left leg.  Though badly wounded, he was able to find some cover.  He reached into a pocket and pulled out some wound tablets, which were antibiotics used to help prevent infections.  He popped them into his mouth and raised his canteen to wash them down when an enemy round went through his left hand and knocked the canteen to the ground.  Despite his pain, Carter continued his advance. 

He crawled and made it to within 30 yards of his objective before his progress was halted by heavy enemy fire.  He found cover behind a road bank and remained there alone for two hours.  The Germans sent out eight riflemen to eliminate the threat posed by this lone soldier.  But that ended up being a mistake.  As they neared his position Carter killed six of them and took the other two as prisoners.  

His fluency in German allowed Carter to interrogate the two prisoners.  They gave valuable intel regarding German forces in the area.  Though badly wounded, Carter refused medical evacuation until he passed on all the information he gathered, which allowed US forces to subdue any resistance in the area.

Carter took a month to heal from his wounds and eventually rejoined his unit.  Upon returning, he was given his staff sergeant rank back and he spent the remainder of the war training soldiers. 

Sgt. Carter was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions that March day and was promoted to sergeant first class later that year.

Sgt. Carter saw himself as a military man and tried to reenlist in the Army in 1949, but he was refused as his time fighting alongside socialists in China and Spain led to allegations that he might be a communist sympathizer.       

Sgt. Carter appealed this decision to anyone or any organization that he could, but it was ultimately refused.  He was honorably discharged in October 1949 and returned to Los Angeles where he worked at a tire business.  

SFC Edward Carter Jr. died on January 30, 1963 at the age of 46.  He was initially buried at the National Cemetery at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center, but he was re-interred at Arlington National Cemetery in 1997.

In 1996, after an independent study identified black soldiers who were not properly recognized for their actions during WWII, Sgt. Carter’s family was notified that his Distinguished Service Cross would be upgraded to the Medal of Honor.  In total there were seven soldiers who were honored at a Medal of Honor Ceremony at the White House on January, 13, 1997.  Along with Sgt. Edward Carter’s family, the Medal of Honor was presented to the families of:

1LT John Fox

PFC Willy James Jr.

Major Charles Thomas

Private George Watson

And SSgt Ruben Rivers who I previously covered in an episode.

Of the seven men, only one was still alive at the time of the ceremony, 1LT Vernon Baker and he had his Medal of Honor bestowed upon him by President Clinton.

Sergeant First Class Edward Carter Jr. embodied the spirit of courage and resilience. In the face of adversity, both on and off the battlefield, he stood tall, proving that valor knows no color. And his story reminds us that true heroism is defined not by the recognition one receives but by the strength of character and the willingness to fight for what is right, no matter the odds.    

Thank you for listening to this episode of Duty & Valor. If you enjoyed this episode and our show in general, please like, follow, and share our show wherever you’re listening.  You can also support the show directly at patreon.com/dutyandvalor or by becoming a member of our Duty & Valor YouTube community. 

To read more about this week’s hero, check out the sources used in today's episode in our show notes and at dutyandvalor.com.

Remember, we release new episodes on the Duty & Valor YouTube channel on Fridays at 5 pm. On our channel, we also release daily YouTube shorts that highlight our Nation’s heroes, many of whom haven’t been featured on the show yet.

Please join us for our next episode, where we'll be sharing the inspiring story of another American hero who served with pride and lived with humility.