Thomas Neal Carter took his place in heaven July 14, 2015. He was born October 4, 1924 in Wake County, NC, to Cora Biggs and Harold Eveleigh Carter, Sr. A graduate of Gray High School, he worked for Noland Company for over 40 years. Mr. Carter proudly served his country during World War II in the US Army Air Forces. He was a C-47 Crew Chief and spent several months as a German Prisoner of War after his plane was shot down during Operation Market Garden. Mr. Carter was a devoted member of Central Terrace United Methodist Church for most of his life and was active in the local chapter of American Ex-Prisoners of War. Preceding him in death were his parents; wife, Ruby Parks Carter; sister, Virginia Carter Tucker Johnson; and brother, Harold Eveleigh Carter, Jr. He is survived by his daughter, Deborah Carter Conrad (Keith); and two grandchildren, Elaine and Thomas Conrad. The funeral service will be conducted at 3:00 p.m., Saturday, July 18, at Central Terrace United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Dave DiMarco officiating. Burial will follow in Forsyth Memorial Park. The family will receive friends from 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. Saturday, July 18, at the church. Memorials may be made to Central Terrace United Methodist Church, 3 East Devonshire Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27127. The family extends their sincere appreciation to the staffs of Bayada Home Health Care and the 6th Floor Special Cardiac Unit at Forsyth Medical Center for their compassionate care.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

S/SGT Thomas N. Carter

34th Troop Squadron

315th Troop Carrier Group

USSTAF

I.D. 34773901

Pos: Crew Chief

POW: 17 Sept 1944

C-47A nicknamed Bette, tail number 43-15308 (34th Troop Carrier Squadron,

315th Troop Carrier Group), awaited her five-man crew that consisted of Captain Richard E. Bohannan (pilot), 2nd Lt. Douglas H. Felber (copilot),

1st Lt. Bernard P. Martinson (navigator), Staff Sgt. Arnold B. Epperson (radio operator), and Sergeant  Thomas N. Carter crew chief).

Like a mother hen, Sergeant Carter had been hovering around his airplane since the early morning, checking every inch of it. He had arrived in England in June 1944 and was assigned to the squadron as a replacement; the Holland mission would be his first operational mission.

The air crewmen put on their flak vests and helmets, and Sergeant Carter took his place near the open door; his task would be to pull the static lines in after the paratroopers had jumped.

Bullets and shards of antiaircraft shells punctured Bette's thin skin, and flames were eating up the floorboards. Crew Chief Carter informed the pilots of the fire over the intercom. One of the six parapacks beneath Bette had been hit by enemy artillery and was on fire. The container held Composition C, a highly dangerous and combustible material used to make explosives. The Comp C was burning, and flames were spreading to the other parapacks under the fuselage, which also caught fire. The fire was so intense that it melted holes in the aluminum floor of the aircraft. Bette's left engine was also ablaze.

C-47 Bette, engulfed in flames from enemy , was in a dive and with full throttle plowed into a field that had been flooded by the Germans near the Postbaan of the Stadschendijk in the Heiningse Polder, near the farm of A. van Sprang (51° 39'N; 4° 27'E). It was approximately 12:30 pm. The paratroopers believed that the pilots, Bohannan and Felber, had held the plane as long as they could so that the paratroopers were able to get clear. All 15 paratroopers were able to abandon the aircraft and bailed out. Sgt. Carter became a POW. He was able to jump with the paratroopers and survived.

On the other side of the canal, Crew Chief Tom Carter, coming down after his harrowing escape from Bette, noticed water below him except at a crossroads around which were clustered several houses. It was the village of Heiningen. Carter was able to guide his parachute and landed on a roof of one of the houses; Sgt Dick Reardon and the other paratroopers splashed down nearby in the water. No one drowned because the water came only slightly above the knees of the men, but they had some trouble freeing themselves from their chutes and harnesses.

Sergeant Carter had a map in his escape kit and pulled it out. One of the Dutchmen pointed out where they were, some 50 miles short of the intended drop zone at Overasselt. The Dutchmen then informed the troopers that they had to leave but would return soon with other underground members who would guide them to safety.

Realizing that the Germans might arrive at any minute, the paratroopers set up defensive positions in the house. Carter and Reardon took some weapons and moved upstairs while others troopers went into a neighboring house.

A few minutes later, a trooper yelled, "Jerries on the road!" Sure enough, a squad of Germans from the 719th Infantry Division was approaching the houses with weapons at the ready. Soon a firefight broke out. One of the Germans threw a potato-masher stick grenade toward the house, but it missed the window and exploded outside. Another grenade was thrown and exploded inside. Corporal Demont was slightly wounded by shrapnel and also suffered considerable damage to his right ear.

The Germans shouted for the Americans to surrender. Realizing that they were surrounded, wounded, outmanned, and in no shape for a prolonged fight, the men surrendered. They were lined up in front of the houses and searched. The Germans took weapons, watches, rings, and cigarettes from the paratroopers, then marched them to a nearby school.

As an Air Force soldier, Sergeant Carter was separated from the paratroopers and held in Stalag Luft IV, a POW camp for aviators, in Tychowo, Poland, arriving there in the middle of October 1944. After Christmas 1944, he was moved to Stalag Luft I near Barth on the Baltic Sea in northeastern Germany. The majority of the journey was made on foot. Carter was freed by the Soviets on May 3, 1945.

(-- condensed from "Shot Down Behind Enemy Lines: An 82nd Airborne Stick's Survival at Market-Garden". Spring 2012 Vol 3 No 3 WWII Quarterly by Jan Bos)