John Carter family from York, Pa., saw six sons serve in World War II uniform
Lt. Lloyd Carter’s obituary appeared in a York newspaper in June 1945. The World War II airman from York, Pa., died in a plane crash in South Carolina. The apparent 1943 reference may stem from part of the type being covered up. Also of interest: York County’s black cemeteries: ‘Before desegregation, even the dead were segregated in many places’ and 20 questions and answers to prove your York County WWII smarts and York County deaths from 20th-21st century wars top 1,000.
Lloyd A. Carter was John Carter’s youngest boy.
The Carters were considered country people because they lived off Rathton Road near Baumgartner’s Woods in Spring Garden Township, remote in the 1930s and 1940s.
John Carter was enterprising, and Lloyd and his five siblings picked up that family trait.
In World War II, the Carter brothers served in the military around the world … .
Cpt. Emanuel Carter served with the U.S. Engineers in Africa.
Cpt. William Henry Carter attended the Coast Artillery radio school in North Carolina.
Pfc. Kenneth Carter, inducted in his senior year at Pennsylvania’s Cheyney State College, was attending engineering school in Ettrick, Va.
Seaman Second Class John Carter was stationed at Camp Moffet in Illinois. He was formerly a student at Hampton Institute.
Seaman Second Class Richard Carter, inducted while a student at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, was stationed at the San Diego Naval Base.
In number of siblings in uniform, the Carters matched the Williams family, another patriotic black family in York.
The six sons of Henry H. and Geraldine Williams said goodbye to six brothers. Five came back, but Charles E. Williams died in Italy in 1945.
In a recent interview at a “Voices Remembered” event at the York County Heritage Trust, Ray Crenshaw explained that Lloyd Carter loved airplanes and was serving as an airman in South Carolina in the summer of 1945.
The 18-year-old Army Air Force lieutenant wrote letters home about his adventures, and Crenshaw was able to read some of them a decade later.
“Sometimes it is so beautiful that I don’t want to come down,” Crenshaw said in reciting one letter from memory.
Lt. Carter was killed in a crash near Walterboro Army Air Field in South Carolina in June 1945.
Also of interest:
Seven Zimmerman boys served in uniform in World War II.
This Hanover family sent 8 sons off to war.
Also:
You can always search for York Town Square posts on Google. For example, when you search for yorktownsquare and black history, you get this.
