This Channel’s definition of a Warrior of War is any man who in the face of extreme
adversity and risk, still chooses to put a cause, belief or the lives of others over his
own self-interest. These are the men who put their gifts of intelligence, perseverance and
strength to honourable use and today, our first Warrior of War in the Series is Edward A Carter.
When Edward A Carter affectionately known as Eddie Carter drew his first breath and was cast
upon this turbulent world in 1916, his destiny as a warrior was seemingly written in stone. The
son of missionaries, his parents relocated to Shanghai from Los Angeles and at the age of 15,
Eddie decided it was in his blood to fight, so he ended up running away
from home and joining the nationalist Chinese Army. Incredibly Eddie achieved
the rank of Lieutenant before his superiors realised he was underaged and sent him home.
Despite this Eddie Carter still retained a deep, burning desire to fight and learn as much as he
could about the military and foreign affairs, which thus pushed him to enrol at the Shanghai
military school as soon as he could, where he perfected his Chinese, Hindi and German.
After his military training, Carter forged his own path and travelled to Europe to fight against
fascism in the Spanish civil war, joining up with the American volunteer unit known as the Abraham
Lincoln Brigade. This further complemented his prior military training and experience in China,
and when he eventually returned to America in 1940 and enlisted in the army to fight against
the Germans, he was pretty pissed to find out that the army didn’t think black soldiers were
fit to fight on the front lines, and he was instead assigned the role of a cook.
Although he resented this fact, Carter knew how to play the game and he simply bided his time.
He rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant within a year of his role in the rear,
however when the US army finally got desperate enough to allow black troops on the frontlines
and starting accepting volunteers, he had to revoke his rank as no black man could out rank
a white man. He happily did this and was just happy to be on the front lines with his brothers.
In 1945 he was eventually assigned to the 12th armoured division where company captain
Floyd Vanderhof recognised his impressive military background and made him infantry
squad leader. It was on March 23rd of 1945 where all of Carters grit, determination,
military awareness, intelligence and most importantly warrior spirit all came together.
Whilst on their way to the town of Speyer in Germany, the fighting had understandably become
a lot more intense and the Germans had a fervor of battle that stemmed from wanting to defend their
homeland. As their convey was nearing the town, it came under heavy fire from german gunners and
artillery, who mind you were dug in, with the only way to get to them being to cross an open field.
Eddie Carter being Eddie Carter, he volunteered to lead 3 other heroic men on a seemingly suicidal
mission to cross that field and take out the gunners. They charged across this open
field and 2 of the 4 were killed immediately with the 3rd being seriously wounded. Despite
these overwhelming odds, Carter continued on his own, drawing fire from 8 germans.
Incredibly, he was shot a total of 5 times, however he still managed to kill 6 out of the
8 Germans and capture the other 2 using them as human shields to navigate away from the
rest of the Germans dug in the position. As he was losing blood and his body riddled with shrapnel,
Carter still had the presence of mind to interrogate the 2 Germans
in their own language and get back to the safety of his troop. Before passing out,
he gave the officer nearby all the information he had gleaned and thus allowed the Americans
to continue their advance with the knowledge of where the Germans were dug in along the road.
Although Eddie Carter fulfilled the criteria and some for the Medal of honour,
due to the racial tensions in the US at the time of WW2, no black man received
it and instead, at the insistence of his commanding officers, he was awarded the
distinguished service cross instead, the country’s second highest military honour.
Edward Carter only a few weeks out from his massive injuries went AWOL from the
hospital to finish the war with the rest of his unit and after performing some of
the most heroic feats of WW2, he humbly and quietly returned home to California in 1946,
where he re-enlisted in the army for 3 years until the red scare in the US
forced him out due to his exposure to communism in Spain and China.
The former soldier spent the rest of his days working in a vehicle tire business and running
his family before he died from lung cancer in 1963. It was an entire 3 decades later before
the true value of his actions were acknowledged and he finally awarded the medal of honour.
Regardless of race, colour, creed or religion, Eddie Carter was the
definition of a man. His thirst for learning never faltered, his courage in the face of
adversity never wavered and he believed in a higher purpose than himself. In saying that,
I think any self-respecting person should honour this man’s legacy.
Thank you Eddie Carter, your sacrifice will never be forgotten.
And on that sombre note we end the video…