Badass Report: Sgt Edward A. Carter Jr.

Fighting from a very young age….

Sgt Edward A. Carter Jr. grew up wanting to fight. Although born in Los Angeles, he was raised by his parents in India, then China, until he ran away from home at 15 and joined the Chinese Nationalist Army to fight the Japanese. He was eventually kicked out when it was found he was only 15, so he made his way to Europe to join the Lincoln Brigade of American volunteers fighting in the Spanish Civil War. Then in 1941 he joined the US Army and served in Germany with the 12th Armored division.

It was March 23rd 1945 when his bravery reached a peak. While riding on a tank, they were hit with bazooka fire and the tank was disabled. Sgt Carter took his remaining three guys with him and set off across a field under fire to try to reach cover. Two were killed and one was grievously wounded while trying, but Sgt Carter made it to cover although hit and wounded five times by enemy fire. His hiding spot was then attacked by a squad of eight German soldiers, but although seriously injured, he fought back, killing six of them and capturing the other two. In order to get his prisoners where they could be questioned, he knew he had to re-cross the fields of fire. So using his captured Germans as a shield from enemy fire, he overcame his injuries and forced his way back to his unit, where his prisoners turned out to have valuable information.

Sgt Carter was found in 1997 to have been overlooked for the Medal of Honor due to his heritage, and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his valor.