Gordon Carson
Gordon Carson | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Gordy |
| Born | July 30, 1924 Geneva, New York, United States |
| Died | November 13, 1998 (aged 74) |
| Buried | Tahoma National Cemetery[1] |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service/ |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1942–1945 |
| Rank |  Sergeant |
| Unit |  Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Sergeant Gordon 'Gordy' Carson (July 30, 1924 – November 13, 1998) was a non-commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army during World War II. Carson was one of the 140 Toccoa men of Easy Company. Carson's life story was featured in the 2010 book A Company of Heroes: Personal Memories about the Real Band of Brothers and the Legacy They Left Us.
Youth
Carson was born on July 30, 1924, in Geneva, New York.[2] He attended Geneva High School before enlisting.[3]
Military service
Carson enlisted and volunteered for paratrooper training. He was sent to Toccoa, Georgia, and was one of the five top scorers in physical competition there.[4] During their training in Aldbourne, Carson and William "Wild Bill" Guarnere once smuggled two English girls into the sergeants' barracks, but were discovered by Lieutenant Thomas Peacock. Guarnere claimed both girls were his, and was given KP duty. Carson and the other sergeants were given a night march.[5]
Carson made his first combat jump into Normandy on D-Day. He also jumped during Operation Market-Garden. After the bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal at Son was blown up by the Germans, Carson, seeing a couple of waterlogged rowboats on the other side, swam across the canal and retrieved a boat, hoping to carry the men across in it. The boat sank halfway across the canal.[6] This event is best described in Parachute Infantry by David Kenyon Webster, Chapter 2, page 59.
During the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne, Carson was wounded in the leg by a tree burst, and was sent to an aid station. He was given crème de menthe for his pain.[7] Carson rejoined Easy Company as it moved towards Germany, where he became the company clerk for Captain Ronald Speirs. In Berchtesgaden, Carson found Hermann Göring's car and went for a ride with Speirs. Before returning the car to the regiment, the two wanted to test whether the car windows were bulletproof. They found out that they were not.[8]
Easy Company was sent to Kaprun, Austria for occupation duty and to assist with displaced persons' camps. Carson met Antonia Tosca Puchalski in one of the DP camps, and they fell in love. In his book Band of Brothers, Ambrose mentioned "a Polish D.P. and her small child" and that "Carson fed an educated, beautiful and sophisticated Polish blonde".[9] Both refer to Puchalski. Carson introduced Puchalski to Speirs, who appointed her as the interpreter for Easy Company.[10] Later, Carson filed the necessary paperwork to obtain permission to marry. With the war's conclusion, by August 1945, the 506th was preparing to move and join the 82nd Airborne in Berlin, as stated on p. 297 of Ambrose's Band of Brothers. In Parachute Infantry by David Kenyon Webster, Chapter 6, page 253, E Company of the 506th PIR, commanded by Captain Ronald Speirs, moved from the Kaprun Valley, Austria to France, to a village named Joigny for transport to the 82nd Airborne Division in Berlin. The 42nd Division assumed command of the Kaprun Valley. The 101st Airborne Division was inactivated on November 30, 1945, and E Company ceased to exist, as stated in Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers, Chapter 18, page 297.
Speirs discovered that Puchalski was pregnant with Carson's child.[11] He informed Carson, who returned to Austria before being shipped back to the United States for separation. He received approval to marry Puchalski, and they were married on October 6, 1945, in Zell am See. Following their marriage in October 1945, Carson was soon shipped back to the United States, where he was separated from the U.S. Army at Ft. Dix, New Jersey on November 20, 1945, according to his official Separation Qualification Records, just 10 days before the 101st was inactivated. His first son was born six months later in Austria, where Puchalska remained, including Puchalski's child from her first marriage, until the necessary clearance papers as a War Bride were approved for her to come to the United States. She arrived in New York Harbor on October 18, 1946, aboard the SS President Tyler, where she and her two sons reunited with her husband on Staten Island, New York.
Later years
Carson attended Springfield College in Massachusetts and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education with honors, also minoring in Philosophy in 1949.[12] He had two more children while attending Springfield College, another son and a daughter. After graduation, Carson's first job was with the YMCA as an athletic director in Bellingham, Washington, where he and Puchalski had one more daughter. He was selected as the Junior Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year in 1953 and later worked as a life insurance salesman in Seattle and Olympia, Washington.[13] Carson and Puchalski divorced twelve years after their marriage, which produced two sons and two daughters. Both of his sons became veterans of the U.S. Army, and one reached the rank of Colonel, U.S. Army Retired. Carson remarried Susan C. Taylor in December 1958; this marriage produced three daughters.[14] Carson was diagnosed with liver cancer and died on November 13, 1998.
References
Bibliography
- Ambrose, Stephen E. (1992). Band of Brothers: Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7434-6411-6. Search this book on
- Brotherton, Marcus (2010). A Company of Heroes: Personal Memories about the Real Band of Brothers and the Legacy They Left Us. Berkley Caliber. ISBN 978-0-425-23420-4. Search this book on
- Robyn Post; William Guarnere; Edward Heffron (2008). Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends. Berkley Trade. ISBN 0425224368. Search this book on
- Winters, Major Dick, with Cole C. Kingseed. Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link) Search this book on
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