GAIL DRAKE: From Los Angeles to Shanghai to Spain to Medal of Honor

More than a million American black soldiers served their country in World War II. Not one was awarded a Medal of Honor. In 1993, the U.S. Army commissioned an exhaustive study to investigate racial disparity within the U.S. military and review for deserving recipients. Seven soldiers were identified and honored with our nation’s highest military decoration for valor. Of the seven heroes, one standout was Edward A. Carter Jr.

Carter was born in Los Angeles to missionary parents; an African American father and East Indian mother. His family moved to Calcutta, India, when he was a child, then eventually settled in Shanghai, China. Struggling with a strained family situation, Carter ran away in 1932 and joined the Chinese National Revolutionary Army that fought against the invading Japanese army. His military prowess allowed him to move up to the rank of lieutenant – until it was discovered that he was only 15 years old. Returned to his parents, he enrolled in a Shanghai military academy, where he trained in combat techniques and studied four languages.

From China, he made his way to another military theater – in Spain. He served as a corporal in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, an American volunteer unit that supported the Spanish Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. He fled to the U.S. in 1938.

At the outbreak of World War II, Carter joined the U.S. Army. His previous combat experience made him stand out and he quickly rose to the rank of staff sergeant in less than a year. He was assigned to the 56th Armored Infantry Battalion. After the Battle of the Bulge, provisional platoons of African American troops were established to train for voluntary small-unit tactics.

On March 23, 1945, Carter was riding on a tank near Speyer, Germany, when the vehicle was hit with bazooka fire from a nearby warehouse. Carter and his squad took cover behind a road bank, then he led a voluntary four-man patrol to advance 150 yards across an open field toward the warehouse. Enemy fire covered the field, killing two soldiers and wounding a third. Machine gun fire hit Carter three times in his left arm as he continued to advance. More gun bursts wounded his left leg and knocked him down. As Carter drank water from his canteen, it was shot out of his left hand. He continued to crawl forward until he was 30 yards from the warehouse and took cover behind an embankment.

Eight enemy soldiers approached him to take him prisoner. Carter shot and killed six of them, then captured the other two and used them as human shields from enemy fire as he recrossed the field. These two POWs later gave valuable information about the disposition of enemy troops. Carter refused to evacuate until he had provided full information acquired from his mission. For this incident, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and promoted.

He returned to Los Angeles to raise a family and work for a tire company. He died in 1963 of lung cancer, attributed to shrapnel that remained in his neck. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. On Jan. 12, 1997, President Clinton posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to Carter’s son, along with the descendants of five other honorees and the only still living recipient, Vernon Baker.

Edward Allen Carter Jr., Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, 56th Armored Infantry, Bronze Star, Purple Heart: An American hero. Lest we forget.