Edward Allen Carter Jr., Soldier of Many Continents  – Pieces of History

November 11 is Veterans Day. Visit the National Archives website to learn more about our Veterans Day holdings. Today’s post comes from Thomas Richardson, an expert archives technician at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri.

The early 20th century was a time of intense upheaval and paradigm shift change across the globe. Scientific advancements, geopolitical machinations, and the spurring of revolutionary movements in multiple nations created a world in flux. These transformations inherently brought about conflict: two world wars that were the deadliest conflicts in human history. For such a dangerous opening to the new century, it’s no surprise it created an environment for adventure seekers.

One person’s story reads like an adventure novel: running away from home, battling fascists on two continents, sailing on freighters to distant nations, being incarcerated in a concentration camp, and fighting an injustice stemming from alleged involvement in the communist hysteria. All of these accomplishments culminated in 1997 when a posthumous Medal of Honor was finally granted, correcting a longstanding injustice that was a product of the times. This is the story of Edward Allen Carter Jr. 

Edward Carter was born in Los Angeles on May 26, 1916, to Edward Carter Sr. and Mary Carter, both of whom were Christian missionaries. The ambulatory nature of their calling led the family to live in multiple places, mostly overseas. Carter spent his childhood in Calcutta and Shanghai, receiving a multilingual education. By the time he was a teenager, Carter could speak English, German, Hindi, and Mandarin. At age 15, he was enrolled in the Military College of China in Shanghai and was part of the larger international community in China of diplomats, missionaries, and businessmen. 

Carter got his first exposure to combat with the Shanghai Incident in January 1932. An altercation between pro-Japanese supporters and Chinese Nationalists erupted in a month-long street battle in and around Shanghai that resulted in thousands of casualties. Carter, lying about his age, ran off to join the Chinese Army and was commissioned as a lieutenant. For a few weeks he served as a runner and messenger for Chinese officers. The ruse did not last, and when it was discovered, Carter was forced to flee. 

He tried making his way to Ethiopia to fight Fascist Italian forces besieging Abyssinia, but was unable to get support from the American Consulate in China. Carter instead joined the merchant marine, found work on board a freighter, and spent two years working at sea before landing in Spain in 1936, where his next adventure began. 

Spain in the 1930s was fraught with political conflict. Civil war erupted in 1936 between Republican forces composed of socialist, communist, and other popular fronts against Nationalist forces supported by conservatives, monarchists, and fascist groups led by Francisco Franco. The fascists were additionally supported by Nazi Germany and Italy. 

Officially, nations such as the United Kingdom and the United States were non-interventional, but thousands of private citizens volunteered to fight in pro-Republican international brigades. These units were attractive to those who wanted to fight against fascist forces. Many joined for the political cause; others who didn’t subscribe to socialist or communist ideologies fought for anti-fascist reasons.

Carter joined one of these, specifically the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. The brigade formed in 1937 and fought in a few major battles including the Battle of the Ebro, the largest battle of the Spanish Civil War. In early 1938, Carter and his brigade were pushed back into France, where he was captured and shipped to a concentration camp in North Africa. It was believed that Carter died while fighting, and his family was notified of his death in 1938. However, Carter was liberated from the camp and eventually made his way back to the U.S. aboard a freighter. Carter’s father learned he was alive after a chance encounter in Los Angeles, where they reunited. 

Upon returning to the U.S., Carter worked briefly for restaurants, a tire manufacturer, and a pipe-fitting company, but the urge to fight was too strong to resist. He joined the U.S. Army in September 1941 and was assigned as a mess sergeant. This was typical in the segregated Armed Forces as many African American service members were restricted to support roles such as cooks, truck drivers, and orderlies. Segregationist policies barred them from combat roles. 

Carter excelled in his duties despite the racial prejudices and requested service overseas with the 3535th Quartermaster Truck Company. Carter’s previous combat experience made him an outstanding soldier, and he was quickly promoted through the ranks. Carter was unaware that Army Military Intelligence learned of his time in China and Spain and questioned his loyalty. There was suspicion that Carter had communist sympathies. In October 1942, a memo from military intelligence asserted that former members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade had been exposed to communist ideals, and many of them followed that the party line was practiced by many followers:

When it was learned that subject [Carter] had served in this organization, it was deemed advisable to place him under surveillance and request an investigation.

Military intelligence officers and investigators contacted Carter’s known family, friends, and co-workers and questioned them about his loyalties, but they were unable to find any evidence of communist sympathies: 

Subject’s loyalty to the United States seemingly is unquestioned except as regards his background, but due to his former connections with above mentioned organization [Abraham Lincoln Brigade], it is thought that a more thorough investigation into subject’s loyalty should be made.

Despite the suspicions, investigations in 1942 and 1943 concluded that Carter was not an ideological threat with regards to communism. Standard police background checks and a follow-up FBI investigation yielded no results. The investigation was closed and records marked as “loyal.” Agents determined that his motivation to join the Abraham Lincoln Brigade was a desire for adventure and not to support communism. 

Carter’s unit was transferred to the European Theater of Operations on November 2, 1944. In February 1945, the Army issued an urgent call for combat volunteers in order to fill the void left by casualties of the Battle of the Bulge. Carter stepped forward, citing his previous combat experience in Spain. He was given brief combat training in France and, unlike other Black soldiers who had to take a reduction in rank to private or PFC for volunteering, Carter retained his staff sergeant rank and was made a squad leader, then a platoon leader. 

His new unit was Company D (Provisional) 56th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division, Seventh Army. Carter had very little time to adjust to his role as a volunteer infantryman. Less than two weeks after the company was organized, they encountered their first combat in Germany. 

March 23, 1945, was expected to be a light day; German resistance was limited to the east of the Rhine River, and Carter’s squad had orders to secure a bridgehead near the town of Speyer. Carter’s rifle squad was advancing by tank when suddenly they were hit by a bazooka. German soldiers were using a nearby warehouse as cover, and Carter wanted it flushed out. Two men in the patrol were killed by intense fire, and Carter ordered the remaining two soldiers to take cover. Carter advanced across an open field despite being severely wounded and took cover near the warehouse. A German patrol approached his position, but Carter had a surprise advantage and killed six enemy soldiers and captured two more. 

In another bold move, Carter used the two captured prisoners as a shield to withdraw back across the field to the parked tank. Carter’s actions quickly made news back at battalion headquarters. After being treated for wounds and receiving a Purple Heart medal, several soldiers approached Carter commending him on his actions: 

We didn’t know how good you guys are…When we get home we’re going to tell the people all about you.

Segregation was still an issue in the Armed Forces, but individual attitudes regarding Black soldiers were changing as the war continued. Carter was recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross on July 10, 1945 and received it on July 25th.

By the end of the war, Carter amassed numerous other awards: the Combat Infantryman Badge, Bronze Star, Purple Heart with one bronze oak leaf cluster, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two bronze service stars, the Good Conduct Medal with two bronze loops, World War II Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal with Germany clasp, and the Honorable Service Lapel Button.

In all, Carter spent 10 months overseas and returned to the U.S. on September 7, 1945, where instead of choosing to be discharged, he reenlisted in the peacetime army and eventually the National Guard. 

Unbeknownst to Carter, the surveillance by military intelligence did not cease. The end of the Second World War did not eliminate the United States’ fears over communism. Additionally, racial tensions over the nation’s hypocrisy concerning segregation and the defeat of international fascism were reaching critically high levels. According to a 1946 intelligence summary, economic poverty and limited opportunities by African Americans were an issue, but they were framed in the context of breeding communist cells within regions with a large African American population.

Pro-communist and socialist groups had existed in the U.S. before World War II, but in the postwar world they came under the investigative microscope of the newly invigorated anti-communist Congress. One of these groups, American Youth for Democracy (AYD), featured prominent associates such as Ingrid Bergman, Thomas Mann, Dalton Trumbo, Frank Sinatra, and Bill Mauldin. 

In December 1945, AYD sponsored a dinner for returning service members, one of whom was Edward Carter. What seemed like a benign social event was construed as a communist recruiting drive and was cited in the Army’s weekly intelligence summaries as potentially subversive: 

The charge that overcrowding and poor sanitation make the colored “ghetto” districts of Los Angeles breeding grounds for disease, epidemics, and crime. Quotation of “embittered World War II veterans” honored at the recent ‘Welcome Home Joe’ dinner sponsored by the American Youth for Democracy (CP organization) in Los Angeles as denouncing the “so called democracy for which they fought” and saying that they have returned “to find America more prejudiced than before and intolerance at an all time new high.

Carter was active in civil life along with his National Guard duties. He served as a secretary of the Interim Committee for Far Eastern Democratic Policy and the East Side Chamber of Commerce as the Veterans Bureau Chairman. Both groups advocated for racial equality, called for the end to employment discrimination, and encouraged civic involvement. They were also under heavily surveillance due to confidential informants claiming that they contained communists. 

By 1949, Carter’s concerns over alleged connections with communists due to his past and his civic work came to head when he was denied reenlistment. Carter delivered a long response outlining his military achievements and, in his letter, acknowledges the questions surrounding his loyalty to the United States: 

It is my desire to re-enlist, but in order to do this it seems necessary that some investigation be made to clear me as to my loyalty. This I not only welcome but desire, so that I may reenlist.…[W]hen I returned to ZI the AYC for Democracy gave a dinner for GI’s I was invited to attend. I attended the dinner by invitation because of the prominent people who were to be there, viz, Col. Carlson of Carlson’s Raiders, Bill Mauldin and preeminent movie actors. I was approached by them to join the organization, but in the meantime, I found out what it was supposed to be and refused to join.

By September 1949 a decision was made—Carter would not be able to reenlist and was discharged on September 21, 1949. Internal documentation from the Department of Defense in Carter’s Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) dated October 27, 1949, only showed that Carter’s enlistment could not be authorized: 

Upon ending his last enlistment, he [Carter] received an honorable discharge. However, this discharge carried on the face of the separation record the notation “Not eligible for reenlistment except upon permission of the Adjutant General.”

A letter from the Adjutant General, dated November 4, 1949, reads:

Mr. Carter’s records have been carefully reviewed by competent Department of the Army agencies and it has been determined that his reenlistment cannot be authorized.

The denial to reenlist was devastating to Carter and his family. He found work with a tire manufacturer in Los Angeles, but feelings over being cheated and discriminated against by the government continued to fester. In 1962 he was diagnosed with lung cancer attributed to wartime injuries and died on January 30, 1963.

Fast forward 30 years, and something extraordinary occurred. A grassroots movement began to amend records of African American World War II veterans who were denied awards (specifically the Medal of Honor) based on their race. In May 1996, Carter’s widow, Mildred, wrote to her member of Congress, Edward Royce, to request awards, updated records, and a possible Medal of Honor.

Simultaneously, his daughter-in-law Allene Carter wrote to the Department of the Army and the FBI in the course of researching materials to clear Edward Carter’s name of communist collaborations. An Army and congressional commission revealed that a racial disparity did exist between wartime actions and awards recipients. 

Records and awards for 10 service members, including upgrades to the Medals of Honor for seven of them, were updated, and on January 12, 1997, Edward Carter’s son, Edward III, received the posthumous Medal of Honor on behalf of his father from President Bill Clinton. Following the White House ceremony, Carter was reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery, a privilege for all Medal of Honor recipients.

Two years later in 1999, declassification of Army documents, including a classified record on Edward Carter, revealed that the reason he was denied reenlistment was due to suspicion that he had communist leanings or was a member of the Communist Party. The suspicion was based on his service in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War against General Franco’s fascists and with the Chinese National Army before that.

It was also believed he was associated with the American Youth Democracy, which was a left-wing political group. Army investigators in 1999 determined that Carter had no communist connections or associates, but in 1949, no conclusive judgment was made. On July 27, 1999, a letter from the White House to Mildred Carter addressed the denial based on prejudice and the false information about communist ties. A decades-long struggle was finally corrected in a short statement from President Clinton, which is included in Carter’s OMPF: 

I was saddened to learn of the additional injustice he had suffered by being denied reenlistment in the United States Army. Had I known this when I presented his Medal of Honor two years ago, I would have personally apologized to you and your family. On behalf of all Americans, I want to do so now.

The Army Board for Correction of Military Records issued its findings on August 26, 1999, and included this paragraph:

The denial of reenlistment at the conclusion of the former service member’s second enlistment (20 September 1946 to 21 September 1949) was unjust. The allegations of interests by the former service members in conflict with those of the United States are determined to be unfounded based on a review of all evidence available. The denial of reenlistment should be rescinded with apologies.

Carter’s denial of reenlistment was later rescinded with an issued apology from the Department of the Army.

Suspicions coupled with paranoia can produce harmful outcomes. Sometimes simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time can have lasting consequences. What happened to Edward Carter Jr. was a product of the racial antagonisms and the postwar political climate. What is evident from Carter’s life is that he was not a communist, but a fervent anti-fascist whose worldly knowledge and combat skills made him one of the most distinctive soldiers ever to serve in the U.S. Army. His achievements and dedicated work by his family secured an enduring legacy that gives hope to others suffering from injustice and discrimination. 

Carter’s Official Military Personnel File was impacted by the 1973 National Personnel Record Center fire. His personnel file has been reconstructed using auxiliary sources

Unless otherwise noted, quotations are from the Edward Carter Papers at New York University.