The members of the Armstrong Chapter of the DAR are pleased to honor Charles Wilson Carter of Moberly as their MSSDAR Patriot of the Month for February 2011.

Charles graduated from Moberly High School in 1940 and Moberly Junior College in 1942, then went to Missouri University for one semester, before enlisting in the Marines in 1942. He went to Parris Island, South Carolina for boot camp and from there to San Diego, California where he left on the USS Hornet for Hawaii. The USS Hornet was the ship that General Doolittle and the Raiders took off from on their bombing mission to Japan on April 18, 1942. His time spent in Hawaii was brief, before going on to Guam, New Caledonia, Luzon in the Philippines and other South Pacific Islands. Charles did encounter action on land with the Japanese troops. He was ten days from San Francisco when the atomic bomb was dropped that ended the war with Japan in 1945. While in San Francisco, he was discharged as a Gunnery Sergeant and returned home to Moberly by train.

After returning home, Charles attended Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska and graduated in 1947 with a BS Degree in Commerce. After graduation, he attended the Wabash Railroad Executive Training Program in Chicago, then went to Kansas City where he worked as a livestock agent for the Wabash Railroad. During his career with the Wabash Railroad, he was in various locations and in 1963 was going to be transferred to Roanoke, Virginia, but decided to return to Moberly, instead. At that time, Wabash was merging with Norfolk and Southern Railroad. Charles returned to Moberly and purchased Stevenson’s Monument Company and ran that until 1980. His son, Timothy Carter, now owns the business.

Charles was married to Mary Fleming on October 1, 1949 and they had eight children, 5 boys and 3 girls. They have 13 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.

Charles is a member of St. Pius X Church, Moberly VFW and Moberly American Legion. He enjoys television and visiting with friends. He served as Mayor of Moberly and city councilman for three terms.

He received several medals during the war, but due to records being in a fire and destroyed, he is unable to recall the exact

medals.

The members of the Armstrong Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution wish to extend our GRATITUDE and THANKS to you for your service to our country.