Brothers, from left, Clarence, Robert and Chester Carr.
Denise Carr of Festus shared the story of her late father, Clarence “Blackie” O. Carr, who she said served in the military during World War II. Before joining the service, Clarence lived in Festus with his then wife Josephine and their daughter, Dorothy Ann, and worked at the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. Clarence enlisted with two of his brothers, Robert and Chester, and his brother-in-law, Jack Brooks.
“Clarence was a tank commander in northern France, central Europe and Rhineland and was awarded three bronze stars for those campaigns, a sharpshooter medal and a good conduct medal,” Denise said.
In 1951, Clarence married Freda May Caulk, and the couple eventually had Denise and her brother, Donald O. Carr. Freda’s brother, Charles Richard Caulk, had died on the beach in Normandy and is buried in the (Epinal) American Cemetery in Normandy, France, Denise said.
After Clarence’s death, Denise found many photos from his time in the military, maps in German and French and a personal journal.
“Robert was a POW. In his journal, my father writes of being worried about Bob and trying to find out where he is. Robert survived and was reunited with his brothers,” Denise said.
Denise recalled Clarence flying the American flag on her birthday, which is Veterans Day, and her best friend’s birthday, Flag Day.
“He was very proud of his service, but hardly ever talked about it with my brother and I.”
Among her father’s keepsakes is a letter signed by Harry Truman thanking Clarence for his service.
“I’m sure many men got those letters, but his is still in great condition. I’m framing it,” Denise said.
Denise Carr of Festus discovered awards and other keepsakes from her father's time in the military.
Clarence “Blackie” O. Carr navigates a Jeep through Arizona.
Mary Campbell of De Soto shared stories about her oldest brother Charles’ time in the Navy.
Charles, 91, from the De Soto area, enlisted at age 17 with his parents agreeing on the condition he completed high school while in the Navy. The family has ties to the military, with Mary herself serving as a Naval line officer from 1969 to 1971. Her brother Frank served in the Missouri National Guard, her sister Janis was an Air Force nurse, and her sister Susan was an Army wife to a Vietnam veteran.
Mary said Charles completed basic training at Great Lakes Naval Training Center and reported to the USS Wasp in December 1951 as an airman.
“Wasp was a World War II aircraft carrier that had been recommissioned in 1951 and remodeled to accommodate the takeoff and landing of jet aircraft,” Mary said. “Even with the remodel, the Wasp was somewhat smaller than today’s carriers. The pilots were trained to approach the flight line by turning their planes in a very specific pattern.
“Unfortunately for my brother, one of the pilots made a wrong turn. As a result, Charles, who was driving a jeep at the time, was exposed to the plane’s jet thrust and both he and the Jeep were blown off the flight deck into the water. My brother was thrown clear of the Jeep and miraculously came through the accident with no lasting injuries except for a burn scar on one leg and the memory of the long 65-foot drop to the water.”
Another incident happened on April 26, 1952, a month after Charles’ 18th birthday.
During a nighttime training exercise with destroyers USS Hobson and Rodman, the Wasp collided with the Hobson, causing the Hobson to split in half and sink within minutes. The Hobson had more than 200 crew members, and only about 50 survived.
“My brother was not on the flight deck at the time of the collision, but he did feel the carrier shudder at the moment of impact.” Mary said. “‘General quarters’ was immediately sounded, and he witnessed the rescue efforts from the deck. The few survivors from the destroyer surfaced in an oil slick and some of the oil was on fire. All of the survivors were covered in oil, and some were badly burned.
“The carrier crew threw life rafts and life jackets to the survivors. Small boats from the carrier and the second escort destroyer patrolled the waters until the next morning looking for survivors. No one from the carrier was lost in the collision.”
According to an investigative report from the event, Mary said, the Hobson’s captain made an unexpected maneuver and became positioned in the path of the Wasp. It’s not known why the captain made this decision, though some witness accounts mention a heated exchange between captains of the vessels.
“The Wasp limped back to port, going backwards very slowly because of the 75-foot hole that had been knocked out of the bow of the ship,” Mary said.
The carrier was repaired and, 10 days later, joined a flotilla of ships that sailed to Gibraltar, then throughout the Mediterranean Sea before sailing on to Scotland, Ireland and England.
“My brother's experience on the Wasp happened more than 68 years ago but, back then, he only talked about the good experiences. He did not talk about the traumatic events that he experienced until we were much older. I am a Navy veteran also, and I am amazed how he can describe those awful sights in such a matter-of-fact tone. I suspect that is how he has learned to deal with what he witnessed that night so long ago.”
A photo from 1951 of the USS Wasp aircraft carrier.
Bruce Wilson of Richwoods graduated from De Soto High School in 1978 and joined the Army that summer. This picture was taken in Iraq in 1991 when he was a staff sergeant.
“I’m standing in front of the fires of 600-plus oil wells that were set on fire by fleeing Iraqi soldiers,” Wilson said. “During the 20 years of active duty, I completed two tours of combat. While on active duty, I traveled all over Europe and southeast Asia.
“I would like to tell everyone to enjoy your freedom, because freedom isn’t free. All of us stand on the shoulders of veterans who went on before us to secure our freedom.”
John David Owings of Eureka served in the Army and the Missouri Air National Guard for 20 years. In this picture, he is at the Al Udeid Air Base near Doha, Qatar, sometime in 2002. He stands in front of several MEP-12 generators.
Terry M. Sater of Eureka served in the Navy during the Vietnam War and wrote about the experience in his book, “The Nightmare of the Mekong: A True History of Love, Family and the War in Vietnam.” Sater wrote the book in 2017 and released a new version in April to commemorate 50 years since the war ended.
Pictured is Terry Sater with his Navy buddies, Bob Grout, Jerry Ranson and Ron Tope.
Terry M. Sater of Eureka served in the Navy during the Vietnam War and wrote about the experience in his book, “The Nightmare of the Mekong: A True History of Love, Family and the War in Vietnam.”
Jeanne Messmer of Fenton sent a photo of Ray C. Hunt, who she said was MIA for 3 years while serving in the Philippines. His story is recounted in the book "Behind Japanese Lines: An American Guerrilla in the Philippines." Hunt was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by General Douglas MacArthur in June 1945 and the Bronze Star. He reached the rank of captain.
Janet Hoskins of Dittmer sent a picture of her husband, Thomas Hoskins, a St. Louis native who served in the Army from 1972-1975. When this photo was taken, he was a battalion draftsman stationed in Heilbronn, Germany.
Nancy Nicholson Wood of De Soto sent a wedding picture from Dec. 14, 1944, of her parents, Buford Landen Nicholson and Martha Mae Ballard. Nicholson joined the National Guard at 16 after lying about his age. He eventually became a staff sergeant at a unit in De Soto and met Ballard through her brother, Cecil R. “Butch” Ballard Jr.
“The story goes, my mom said she would marry my daddy if he came back from war—World War II,” Wood said.
Nicholson’s unit was activated to Army status following the Pearl Harbor bombing, and he served in the fourth infantry. He was a foot soldier in the Rhineland campaign and marched with his unit through Germany.
“I know he killed many Nazi soldiers, or he wouldn’t have come back from the war,” Wood said.
“He also was in Normandy, France, landing by amphibian boat on Omaha Beach. After seeing film of the landing, it was amazing so many soldiers lived, since Nazi soldiers were uphill from the beaches in what they called their ‘nests.’”
Though Nicholson did not talk about his service during World War II in Germany and France, Wood said he received three bronze stars for meritorious service.
In 1950, Nicholson and Ballard got divorced and Wood stayed with her mother. Nicholson had been working at Missouri Pacific Railroad shops in
De Soto, but he remarried in about 1951 to Lorraine Govero and joined the Air Force. The pair went to France, Scott Air Force Base in Belleville, Ill., and Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss. Wood spent the summers of 1959-1961 with them before Nicholson had to do one more year of service.
Nicholson was sent to Middleton Island in the Gulf of Alaska. One day, after complaining of a headache, he went to the infirmary and fainted. Medical attendants put him on a plane to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Fairbanks, Alaska, but he died in route on April 11, 1962, at 39 years old.
Wood said a friend of Nicholson’s stayed with him when he was returned from Alaska to Lambert Airport, then to the funeral home, and didn’t leave the casket until he was buried.
Nicholson had a full military funeral, including a 21-gun salute, at Vineyard Funeral Home in Festus.
“As I write this submission, I have lived 40 years more than he did,” Wood said. “I was 15 when he passed. It was the most devastating experience I’ve had in my life.”
Wood said she still has the American flag that was placed on his casket on display in her house along with her parents’ wedding photo.
Randall Berkbigler of Eureka was a senior master sergeant in August 1992 when this picture. Berkbigler stands next to one of his B-1B bombers from Dyess Air Fort Base at an airshow at Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, Texas. Berkbigler spent 26 years in the Air Force, serving at Reese and Dyess bases in Texas, Langley AFB in Virginia, Scott AFB in Illinois, Elmendorf AFB in Alaska, Lajes Field in Azores, Portugal, Hickam AFB in Hawaii, RAF Mildenhall in England and Eglin AFB in Florida.
Elaine McKinney of Crystal City sent pictures of James T. McKinney, 81, of Crystal City. In July 1962, James left his hometown of Salem at age 18 to join the Army, Elaine said. James served eight weeks of basic training at Fort Leonard Wood and went to Fort Gordon in Georgia for individual training. In January 1963, Jim boarded the USS Darby and spent 11 days sailing to Kaiserslautern, Germany, to serve the rest of his tour. In July 1965, Jim returned to Festus with the rank of specialist E4.
Elaine said Jim is now enjoying retirement and one of his favorite sports: fishing.
Elaine McKinney of Crystal City sent pictures of James T. McKinney, 81, of Crystal City. In July 1962, James left his hometown of Salem at age 18 to join the Army, Elaine said. James served eight weeks of basic training at Fort Leonard Wood and went to Fort Gordon in Georgia for individual training. In January 1963, Jim boarded the USS Darby and spent 11 days sailing to Kaiserslautern, Germany, to serve the rest of his tour. In July 1965, Jim returned to Festus with the rank of specialist E4.
Elaine said Jim is now enjoying retirement and one of his favorite sports: fishing.
Joyce Evans of Herculaneum sent pictures of her husband, Timothy Evans, who served 26 years in the Air Force. His last station was at Scott Air Force Base in Belleville, Ill.
Joyce said the pair met online in 2000 and married in January 2001.
“While getting to know each other, I found out he had two careers in the Air Force,” Joyce said. “The first was in munitions, making, loading bombs, etc. He cross-trained after he knew all he could about munitions. So, he went into the pharmacy field. He earned the rank of master sergeant.”
Timothy is now a lead pharmacy technician at a veterans’ hospital in St. Louis.
Joyce Evans of Herculaneum sent pictures of her husband, Timothy Evans, who served 26 years in the Air Force. His last station was at Scott Air Force Base in Belleville, Ill.
Joyce Evans of Herculaneum sent pictures of her husband, Timothy Evans, who served 26 years in the Air Force. His last station was at Scott Air Force Base in Belleville, Ill.
Vernon Preston, 73, of Eureka first served in the Air National Guard starting in 1970. After graduating from St. Louis University in 1975, he joined the Navy as a supply corps officer, but would be assigned to the USS Alexander Hamilton, a ballistic missile submarine.
“We were in the Caribbean off the patrol cycle,” Preston said of the photo he sent in. “We were being used as a target for other ships to practice on. They would try to track the submarine. We would start on the surface of the water and then go under water.”
He said he served on four deterrent patrols where he was underwater for 75 days. He spent nine and a half years on active duty in the military, then continued his military career in the Reserve until 2002.
Preston retired from the Navy with the rank of commander.
“I look back on my years of service fondly,” he said. “It helped me get a job with McDonnell Douglas (later Boeing), with my security clearance.”
Mike Zavorka, 77, of Hillsboro said he is on his way to Washington, D.C., on a Greater St. Louis Honor Flight. Zavorka served in combat with the 377th Security Forces Squadron at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Vietnam from August 1968-1969.
Mike Zavorka in 1969.
