Robert Carte

ASN: 35425227

CPL Robert Carte

Robert Lee Carte registered for the draft on October 16, 1940. Born August 5, 1912, he was from Beckley, West Virginia and employed by M.A. Johnson in Beckley. This twenty-eight-year-old was 6-0, 161 pounds with a sallow complexion, brown eyes, and brown hair. According to his registration card he had no distinguishing physical characteristics.

PVT Carte enlisted in the US Army at Baltimore, Maryland on March 31, 1942. He shipped out by train to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he received his initial training and assigned to A-Battery, 319th Field Artillery Group, 82nd Airborne Division.

Company Morning Reports

Company Morning Reports were produced every morning by the individual Army units to record personnel matters. The following events were reported:

  • From duty to Wounded in Action, September 18, 1943 -penetrating shrapnel wound from enemy Mortar, location Hip.

  • October 18, 1943, PFC Robert Carte transferred to 53rd Station Hospital.

  • February 13, 1944, assigned and joined from Replacement Depot at 1900.

  • Assigned and joined from B-Battery, February 17, 1944, Camp Ballyscullion, Northern Ireland.

  • From duty to furlough 5 days Manchester, England at 0600, July 25, 1944.

  • July 30, 1944, from furlough 5 days Manchester, England to duty, 2300.

  • June 19, 1945, CPL Robert Carte transferred to 681st Glider Field Artillery Battalion.

  • Absent Sick to Light Duty, 21st General Hospital, June 25, 1944.

Along with fellow glider men, Private Carte traveled to North Africa in May, 1943. Later promoted in rank to Corporal, he fought in six (6) battles and campaigns; Sicily, Naples-Foggia, Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, and Central Europe.  

During the June 6th D-Day invasion PFC Robert Carte glided into Normandy with fellow A-Battery soldier, Silas Hogg. In a 2006 interview, fellow soldier Silas Hogg recalled the events of that evening looking back over sixty years later;

“Two gliders collided. It just came in, hit the ground, ricocheted and hit our glider. The Horsas were crushed together in a terrible heap of plywood, jeeps, guns, and dead, wounded, or dazed men. You know, there were two men including SGT Wade. They were in the same glider that I went in with and they were both killed on impact. The pilot was shoved up through a hole in the glider on impact. When I came to, I was laying there across old Bob (Carte) and he was in the bottom of that glider in the plywood. I don’t see how any of us lived through it. I was knocked out and laying on top of Bob Carte. I just wonder if old Bob’s still living.”

During the bitter fighting in the Ardennes on December 27, 1944, PFC Carte (Standing 3rd soldier form the left) was photographed with fellow soldiers of A-Battery gun section.

Standing (L-R) John Hardin, “Doc” Bedingfield, Bob Carte, Ted Simpson, Fred Harsh, Ralph Radosh, Kenneth Hanne, Kneeling (L-R) William Bonnamy, Hjalmar “Okie” Olkonen, Fred Fitzke

CPL Robert Carte also appeared in the A-Battery group photo taken June 20, 1945 in Epinal, France.

In April 1945 the 319th Glider Field Artillery Battalion was now stationed in Hurth, Germany. A celebration banquet for the battalion was scheduled on April 16th.

That afternoon the men put on their Class “A” uniforms as if it were prom night, checking that brass and jump boots were polished to perfection. As the men filed into the cafeteria they found places set with a mimeographed program listing the menu and schedule of entertainment. (see below courtesy of Fred Pongracic)

Even though it was an exclusively “A” Battery function, Colonel Todd, Major Silvey, and Major Wimberley were invited and took their seats with the battery. The aroma of hot food was filling the hall.

CPL Bob Carte, a tall “West Virginian” known to take a drink under social pressure, stood up and called the room to attention. Tonight, Carte was the Master of Ceremonies.

After he dedicated the occasion, Able Battery’s officer’s and NCO staff started carrying the meals from the kitchen, delivering two at a time to the privates, corporals, and section chiefs. Someone distributed cans of GI beer and, after a quick benediction, the banquet began. (Group Photo below and some content courtesy of Joseph Covais, author of BATTERY)

CPL Robert Carte was awarded 6 Bronze Battle Stars, Bronze Arrowhead, Good Conduct Medal, the Belgian Fourragere, Presidential Unit Citation Badge, Purple Heart, Glider Badge, World War II Victory Ribbon and the European-African-Middle Eastern Theatre Ribbon.

STL Archive Records

Robert Carte, 84, died July 16, 1997, in Marietta, Georgia, following a long illness.

God bless this hero.