Carl Rieman was born in Washington D.C., the only boy of the three children in the family. He lived in the suburbs of Washington all his life. Rieman went to Catholic schools and accomplished two years at the University of Maryland [Annotator's Note: in College Park, Maryland] before enlisting in the Navy in 1942, and entering the V-5 program [Annotator’s Note: V-5 US Navy Aviation Cadet Program, 1939 to 1943]. He chose the Navy because he was always interested in carrier aviation. He was just home from church services the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], and he was "set back" when he heard the news on the radio. His family discussed the situation, and Rieman's mother worried that he would be drafted; the draft was always on his mind, and he decided to enlist so that he would have a choice of branch of service. He "flunked the doggone physical" because of a deviated septum, so he got the problem corrected, retried and was accepted. He received no Navy pay while training in a government-paid civilian pilot program in Huntington, West Virginia for his first four months in the service. After that, he was sent to Navy pre-flight school with a good number of flight hours. Rieman was a top gunner and graduated from Corpus Christ, Texas at the end of 1942 as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. Rieman said he was "fit to be tied" when the cadets lined up and his branch of service and rank were incorrectly stated. He went to the Marine commander and insisted that he wanted to fly off of ships, and had to sit around Corpus Christi for a month while waiting for his orders to come around, listing him as an ensign in the Navy.

Still just a "number," Carl Rieman wound up at the Marine Corps Air Station in Opelika, Florida, the only ensign among all the "jarheads" [Annotator's Note: slang term for Marines] in the outfit. From there he was stationed at Sand Point on Whidbey Island outside of Seattle, Washington, and was flying Piper Cubs [Annotator's Note: Piper L-4 Grasshopper light observation aircraft] up and down the coast "chasing torpedoes" for the Navy. After a month or two, he was assigned to the fighter section of VC-94 [Annotator's Note: Composite Squadron 94 (VC-94)] as a flight leader. Although he was only a junior officer, he had more fighter flight experience than the other officers. The plane he started out on was the F2A [Annotator's Note: Brewster F2A Buffalo fighter aircraft], which "had a lot of hydraulics," two .50 caliber guns, and two .30 calibers that fired through the prop. He later moved to F-4Fs [Annotator's Note: Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter aircraft] that had four guns, all on the wings. The planes were old and in bad condition, and when the squadron finally got to North Island near San Diego, California for advanced training, they got FM-2s [Annotator's Note: Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter aircraft built by General Motors]. Rieman compares the FM-2 to the F-4F.

From North Island, Carl Rieman was sent to Long Beach, California for more training until his orders came in. Then he traveled on a submarine tender, the USS Gillis (AVD-12), to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, with a shipload of seasick Marines. Once they arrived, the squadron [Annotator's Note: Composite Squadron 94 (VC-94)] was sent to the Naval Air Station at Kaneohe Bay on the windward side of the island for about a month, waiting for the USS Shamrock Bay (CVE-84) to take them to Ulithi [Annotator's Note: Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands]. There, they flew cover for a while, and got into ground support for troop landings on the islands, strafing and shooting into machine gun nests. Later, they were issued rockets that they would shoot at gun and artillery emplacements as directed by the Marines or the Army. Before the landing craft would go ashore, the fighters would go in and strafe the beaches and "targets of opportunity" like small boats in the coves and waterways, or truck convoys - anything they could find. Rieman thought the Shamrock Bay was a fine ship, with a very good ship's company and a good LSO [Annotator's Note: Landing Signal Officer]. He said everybody on board "pulled together." The Shamrock Bay often worked alone. Its biggest drawback was its slow speed, and a couple of planes were lost because of a failure to coordinate the ship's forward speed and plane's landing speeds. Rieman told the story of when the ship was pulling into Ulithi, and he saw all manner of animal carcasses floating out of the bay, the refuse of refrigeration cargo from a ship that had been blown up by a Japanese attack. He said they ate a lot of rice and very little meat.

The USS Shamrock Bay (CVE-84) joined with another carrier, the USS Kitkun Bay (AVG-71), headed for Leyte in the Philippines and Carl Rieman's squadron [Annotator's Note: Composite Squadron 94 (VC-94), USS Shamrock Bay (CVE-84)] was flying combat air patrol all the way. Each division would put in at least four hours a day. They arrived when Leyte had just been secured, and the Japanese fleet was still in the vicinity, having sunk two jeep carriers [Annotator’s Note: small escort aircraft] before running from Fleet Admiral Halsey's [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey] fast carrier fleet. Soon after arriving in the area, aircraft from the Shamrock Bay and the Kitkun Bay provided air cover for all the troop ships going in for the invasion of the Lingayan Gulf, and Rieman shot down his first two Japanese fighters. Recalling those victories, Rieman said he was flying patrol when he received a vector [Annotator's Note: a direction to fly] from the ship for the first one. Rieman flew toward the heading he had been given, and sighted the enemy aircraft; according to Rieman, the two fighters flew "round and round a little bit, and he [Annotator's Note: the Japanese fighter] made a bad turn, and I got him." Rieman saw the second fighter drop a bomb that missed, and four American aircraft chased it. The enemy plane dropped down to about ten feet off the water, trying to get away, and Rieman caught him with all four of his guns, disintegrating the plane. All this took place while suicide planes were prowling higher in the same skies, the first anyone aboard had heard of them until then, and no one could really understand the concept. One Kamikaze dove for the Shamrock Bay, but pulled out at about a thousand feet and plowed right into the side of the Kitkun Bay, hitting her fantail and rendering her "dead in the water." She had two divisions still in the air, and they had no place to go; the islands were all covered with Japanese at the time. The Shamrock Bay took four of her aircraft aboard, all they had room for, then took the pilots off the next four and pushed their planes overboard. Another Kamikaze had taken a run at the Shamrock Bay, but its five inch gun got him before he hit the ship. From there, they went up and covered the Philippines for all the island landings.

The one other combat action Carl Rieman experienced in the Philippines occurred in the Surigao Strait. The whole fleet was going through the six mile wide pass, and at about three in the morning, radar showed "bogies" [Annotator's Note: unidentified aircraft] everywhere. Rieman was on duty and the captain wanted to launch three airplanes. Rieman and one other volunteer were catapulted into the sky and when the other plane "checked his guns," the sky lit up with friendly fire. Remarkably, they both got off, and Rieman chased one enemy aircraft, but an American Corsair [Annotator's Note: Vought F4U Corsair fighter aircraft] came out of nowhere and blew the Japanese plane up right in front of him. Rieman also told the story of the one other Kamikaze attempt on his aircraft carrier [Annotator's Note: USS Shamrock Bay (CVE-84)]. After the USS Kitkun Bay (AVG-71) was left behind, the whole "burden" of defense for the northern landing fell on the airmen of the USS Shamrock Bay (CVE-84). The little carrier, whose only defense was a five inch gun on its aft deck, destroyed the enemy plane before it could do its damage. On a revisit to Ulithi [Annotator's Note: Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands], while ships were gathering in preparation for Iwo Jima, night fighters attacked as the Shamrock Bay stood next to the new carrier USS Hancock (CV-19); one Kamikaze got through and dove right into the Hancock's elevator. Rieman also described how he blew up an ammunition dump that the enemy had disguised as a hospital hut. He said the Japanese shot at our hospital ships and had no regard for the rules of the Geneva Convention. Rieman said, "There's just nothin' good about a war."

While Carl Rieman was off of Ulithi [Annotator's Note: Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands], the USS Shamrock Bay (CVE-84) had only one motor whaleboat that the sailors could use to get ashore. On one little island, the Americans had built a bar out of a cemetery hut, and called it an "officers' club," the Mog-Mog [Annotator's Note: Mog Mog Island is part of the Ulithi Atoll]. On the return from one trip ashore, the whaleboat was full, and braving rough waves while its drunken passengers were trying to climb the ladders to get back aboard. One big wave toppled them all into the water; fortunately, no one was lost. Continuing his story, Rieman said that from Ulithi the carrier went up to Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan] and "went right to work." He flew daily missions, covering the Marine landings, which met no resistance. As they moved inshore, however, the Japanese started coming out of the caves, and the American aircraft kept hitting them with rockets and filling in caves. Rieman said the Japanese would dig caves as fast as the Americans could fill them in. He noted that he was flying the day Ernie Pyle [Annotator's Note: Ernie Pyle was an American reporter and war correspondent] was killed on a little island in the area [Annotator's Note: Ie Shima]. He remembers it was the day "everybody was raising cane, saying the war is over"; it was, in Europe [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945]. In the daily routine they lost a couple of planes; all their losses were by ground fire. Rieman was flying combat air patrols and T-cap over the troops for support. When the raids started coming in heavy from Formosa, Rieman's division flew a couple of raids over there to destroy the airfields.

Carl Rieman said if the planes could have carried more ammunition, he could have gotten more enemy kills. The Japanese would send in Zeros [Annotator's Note: Japanese Mitsubishi A6M fighter aircraft, referred to as the Zeke or Zero] to protect the Kamikazes, and when they came in for the USS Laffey (DD-724), their force was about 70 strong. Rieman was flying combat air patrol on the southern end of Okinawa, waiting for orders, and had no idea what was going on with the Laffey. He got a call about the big raid, and control gave him a heading for an intercept. The enemy aircraft had reached the Laffey, and were flying in formation when Rieman dove into the lead plane. The Japanese aircraft scattered and some of them turned around and went home. Rieman remembered that another American aircraft was shooting at the same target he was, and flew right into his line of fire. Rieman had to stop shooting so as not to down one of his own countrymen, and was really angry that with so many targets, this airman jumped into his path. His concentration interrupted by the intrusion, he turned around to find a Zero coming right at him. The two went "head to head" and when Rieman caught one of the enemy's gas tanks, the plane exploded. Then he slipped right in behind a Kate [Annotator's Note: Nakajima B5N Kate torpedo bomber] and hit its pilot; he folded over and his aircraft went down. Rieman emptied his guns on the next plane he picked up; the aircraft's engine was smoking and the plane was going down when a Corsair [Annotator's Note: Vought F4U Corsair fighter aircraft] came through and finished it. That was Rieman's fifth kill, and gave him his "Ace" designation. Out of ammunition, Rieman continued harassing the enemy aircraft, preventing further damage to the Laffey. Running low on fuel, Rieman headed back to his carrier [Annotator's Note: USS Shamrock Bay (CVE-84)]. But four of the Kamikazes hit the Laffey and Rieman, seeing the ship ablaze and circling, thought she was gone. The ship lost a lot of men, but did a great job defending herself, according to Rieman.

After leaving the scene of the USS Laffey (DD-724) and before reaching his carrier [Annotator's Note: USS Shamrock Bay (CVE-84)], Carl Rieman made an "in and out" at Naha Air Base to get a loose tank off one of his squadron's [Annotator's Note: Composite Squadron 94 (VC-94)] planes. On reaching the carrier, Rieman was saddened to learn of the losses from the raid. He described the dangers of night flying. Rieman's division was pulled out before the Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa Japan] campaign was over, and was sent to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands]. The ship went into a floating dry dock, and the airmen went into a rehabilitation camp. Rieman had duty on various other carriers before going back to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] and then to San Diego, California. Rieman received the Distinguished Flying Cross for "knocking down a few airplanes." He moved to the air base at Sanford, Florida, and Rieman put together another division, but before it could get into action, the war ended. Rieman said that during the celebrations, his captain got drunk and fell over backward from the top of a piano. After about a month, Rieman was out and returned home. He stayed in the Naval Reserves, and went back to the University of Maryland [Annotator's Note: in College Park, Maryland]. Sorry he had left the Navy, Rieman re-upped and spent about eight years training reserves.

Carl Rieman keeps up with a few of the surviving member of his squadron [Annotator's Note: Composite Squadron 94 (VC-94), USS Shamrock Bay (CVE-84)] and he went on a peacetime flight with one of them. Having come through the war without either of them suffering a washout, his buddy crashed the plane with Rieman and another man on board. Survivors of the ship he fought so valiantly to protect formed the USS Laffey Association and invited him to a reunion, but he couldn't attend because his "good wife" and the mother of his 12 children was unwell, and he couldn't leave her. He considers himself very fortunate to have "the greatest family in the world.” But, Rieman said, he has visited the USS Laffey (DD-724) at its berth in Charleston, South Carolina. Later in his Navy career, he was called to Chicago, Illinois as the assistant chief of staff for Command Liaison Admiral Dan Gallery [Annotator's Note: US Navy Rear Admiral Daniel V. Gallery; author of fiction and non-fiction works] for two years. Rieman called him an "old pooper," who didn't do anything but write a book. The Navy allocated a Beechcraft for Rieman to fly back and forth to home every weekend. Rieman felt the Navy was good to him.