By JOHN GUERRIERO
Pfc. Vance Carter arrived at Omaha Beach with the U.S. 1st Army two days after D-Day.
Though the beachhead was established, Carter, a member of the 1st
Army's intelligence and reconnaissance unit, said the area still was in turmoil.
And though he wasn't injured at Omaha, he would be injured twice in separate battles in the months ahead.
"There was a lot of
commotion. There were a lot of dead bodies floating in the water. Everything was in turmoil. They had halted bringing in the supplies because they were overburdened on the beaches with fighting," he said.
"There was so much going on that naturally we were frightened," said Carter, now 71, in a recent interview at his commercial advertising business in Erie.
"The main thing I thought about was trying to
survive," he recalled. He had that same thought while crossing the English Channel in a Navy ship, before boarding a smaller landing craft.
Many men died in the water after landing craft were hit and sunk.
"They couldn't swim because they were burdened down with heavy equipment," said Carter, who was 21 at the time.
It took a couple of days to establish the beachhead because the army was pinned down by the
high bluff and the Germans "were picking off the soldiers." Rather than move up the bluff, the army advanced through openings, or valleys, he said.
The Americans also were able to advance because of the
initial naval bombardment of German pillboxes, bunkers and other fortifications along the coast, he said.
Carter said that he and his regiment worked its way to St. Lo, about 20 miles inland. He was hit on July 17,
1944, from 88mm guns fired from German tanks in the hedgerows.
"They started shelling us and I was wounded by shrapnel," he said. Carter was hit in the right leg, hip and thigh.
When he was wounded, his
outfit withdrew and took another position. He was left behind for two days until the medics found him after the American troops advanced.
He crawled into the hedgerow and stayed there, silently, with Germans
everywhere.
"The enemy was moving all around me and I could hear them. I was determined not to give myself up," he said.
"I thought of positive things and prayed to God. I said that I wouldn't
complain about too many things if I got out alive."
Carter's parents received a telegram telling them that he was missing in action. Once he reached a hospital in England, he wrote to tell them he was all right;
they received the letter about one month after getting the telegram.
After one month in the hospital, he rejoined his outfit outside of Paris.
But in December, he got wounded again in Belgium. This time, he
suffered shrapnel wounds in both legs from a land mine explosion.
Sent back to a hospital in England, Carter was told he could go home to the United States for limited duty for the rest of the war.
"I said,
`No, I didn't want to go back.' I wanted to continue in Europe if I could," he said.
Carter was assigned as a criminal investigator for the U.S. Military Government. He participated in investigations of political
prisoners and war criminals.
He arrived home in December 1945, two days before Christmas. "It was a good Christmas present."
Carter said he married his childhood sweetheart, Margaret Steber, who waited
four years for his return home. Married for 48 years, they have three children and eight grandchildren.
They moved to Erie in 1964.
Carter said memories of his wartime experience are everlasting.
"I lost some of my friends" at Omaha Beach and St. Lo, he said.
"It stays with you. At the time, it didn't really affect you that much because you're in combat. But afterward is when it really hits
you," he said.
Carter said he believes he's a better person for his service in World War II.
"It made me realize the value of life, the commitment that people have for their country," he said. "I
think it brought me closer to God."
Despite his role in the war, Carter didn't want to overstate his contribution to the war effort.
"I don't want to portray myself as a John Wayne type of hero. I don't
want to dramatize it," he said, humbly.
Carter is Commander of the Erie chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Commodore Perry Chapter 197. He also is 2nd Junior Vice Commander of the Department of
Pennsylvania Military Order of the Purple Heart.
