Jack K. Carver was born in June 1920 in Manhattan, New York City. On Sunday, 7 December [Annotator's Note: 7 December 1941], Carver was with friends. He had finished high school but had no money to attend college. His family could not help him because of the financial conditions prevalent during the Great Depression. His father did manage to support his family. Later, he would become quite rich. His father was a refugee who had fled Austria and arrived in the United States in the 1880s. He was 17 years of age. He had family in his new country. They took him in and began his education in English. The family business, in time, became a large bank. Carver's father did not want to follow that profession. Instead, he saw a shortfall of places for people to lunch. He opted to open a saloon and charge five cents for a glass of beer with the option of having a free lunch with that purchase. His competitors thought he was crazy and would go broke. Instead, the idea caught on and he was highly successful. He would go on to buy a second bar, as well as, a movie house and an apartment building. That all ended with Prohibition. His father married an American girl. They had six children. Carver was the youngest sibling. All of them have passed now. Times were tough during the Depression. All the children had small jobs and helped contribute to the family finances. One of Carver's jobs was in a camera store. That position would be important to him later in life. On the Sunday previously mentioned, Carver and his friends were listening to a football game on the radio. There were few televisions at that time. During halftime, the announcer said for military personnel to immediately report to their bases. That was followed by a later declaration that Pearl Harbor had been bombed by the Japanese with the loss of 4,000 killed. The country was at war. World War 2 changed Carver's life totally. The next week, he attempted to enlist. The recruiters had an extremely lengthy line of candidates. It was not all due to patriotism. Some men could not find jobs. The possibility of military service was a means to help them through the rough times. Carver applied for the air force because of stories he heard about the German Luftwaffe bombing Europe. His eyesight prevented him from joining. He decided to wait for his number to be called. It was a month later when he received his call. He reported and was taken by bus to Long Island. The men were given examinations and sorted out. Lists of names came out each day for assignments. Finally one day, Carver's name was on the list. He was placed on a bus to New Jersey. From there, he was sent by train down South. No one ever told him his destination ahead of time.

Jack Carver began his basic training at Fort McClellan, Alabama. An accelerated training went on there to teach recruits how to shoot. There was a concern that, with the Navy destroyed, there might be an invasion of the West Coast. The training was so crude that there were not enough American made rifles. The troops practiced with British Enfield rifles. The new men had to learn enough in case the Japs [Annotator's Note: an offensive term used to mean Japanese] came. The daily training was in very hot weather. The men took salt pills to compensate. After that training, Carver transferred to Durham, North Carolina to Camp Butner. That location is now a famous jail. He joined a new division that was being formed, the "78th Lightning Division" [Annotator's Note: 78th Infantry Division]. The training became serious with real sergeants and officers. His rifle company was commanded by a guy named Lieutenant Rockefeller from the famous family. The focus was on learning to shoot. Carver was from the North and had never had experience with guns. The boys from the South were just the opposite. They were comfortable with rifles. Carver learned from scratch how to hold the rifle and use the strap. Meanwhile, the others could not hit anything. Carver rated as a sharpshooter and then was promoted to private first class. He was charged with carrying the guidon when his unit paraded. He could do his tasks properly since he had nothing wrong to unlearn. As he proceeded through the training with his division, he was ordered to go to battalion headquarters where three officers interviewed him. Soldiers with some college training or a high IQ were being selected for entry into a new Army program called ASTP [Annotator's Note: Army Specialized Training Program]. The selectees were sent to NC State College. They were put up in the dorms and given various types of tests. Half the people were sent back after the first two weeks. The rest of the men who remained were told they were going to get professional training. A list of 20 names came out. They would go to New York which was Carver's hometown. They were sent to City College in New York which had been converted to an Army training facility. After undergoing another series of tests, the men were told that they would be dispatched to various schools for another round of training. There was no indication of the details of the future training. After three weeks, a list was posted with eight names, including Carver's. Those trainees were designated to go to Harvard. They were billeted there in the fancy Gold Coast dormitories overlooking the James River. The two-student rooms were converted to accommodate four trainees. There was an adjacent bathroom. They then learned their future assignment. They were to go to the Far East. They had to learn Mandarin Chinese. They were to be educated in the tradition of the samurai system and the Japanese Army. They were to be taught about the workings of the Chinese communist forces. When the training was over, the graduates would attend an Army language school in Monterrey, California. They were to perfect their language skills during that process. This was going on prior to the D-Day invasion. The concept was that after the Army or Marines had cleared territory formerly occupied by the Japanese, Carver and his fellow graduates from the ASTP special program would be sent in as officers to run the civil operations there. The training was tough. The faculty was virtually all oriental. One of the speakers was former Ambassador Grew [Annotator's Note: Joseph Grew] who had been in Japan for five years prior to the war. After the war started, Grew was sent home. He lectured the students on Japan. Carver found studying at Harvard to be convenient. He managed on alternate weekends to go home to New York. He had weekends free at the end of every week. The students had long hours during the week but each weekend was free. When he returned home, Carver would visit his family and girlfriend. After spending nearly a year in the training, the program was suddenly cancelled. Some students continued in specific disciplines, but the Army had a great need for trained soldiers since D-Day was coming. Carver transitioned overnight from a lavish dormitory at Harvard to a pup tent in the mud of Tennessee. He joined the 26th "Yankee Division" [Annotator's Note: 26th Infantry Divsion]. It was a famous division. Carver's regiment, the 328th, was the one Sergeant York [Annotator's Note: Alvin York] was in during World War 1. It was a well trained group. There was no fooling around. Carver returned to his old specialty, infantry communications. The battalion commander in combat had three rifle companies and one heavy weapons company. Each one was commanded by a captain. The colonel commanding the battalion had to be in touch with his captains at all times. That is difficult under combat conditions. Communications via telephone had to be established and maintained at all times. There were wire teams who would set up and repair lines. The job was risky because the enemy knew the significance of the wires and cut them. They would then lay in wait for the repair crews to come forward to attempt to reestablish them. It was no easy job to be greeted by enemy machine gun fire while trying to fix the wire. Additional communication came from either a master sergeant or second lieutenant in each platoon carrying a small handheld radio. There were also large radios which were powered by an individual pedaling a power unit next to it. The large radio was used to contact regimental and division headquarters, as well as, the divisions on the left and right. At night, London could be tuned in so the men heard Benny Goodman play. After a month of training, the whole division moved to New York by train. They went to Camp Shanks in New Jersey. They were billeted in barracks awaiting a ship to take them to their next destination. While Carver was at Shanks for three weeks, his family had a chance to give him a farewell party in honor of his overseas departure. The troops boarded the ship and passed the Statue of Liberty on the Hudson River. Carver had visited the Statue before and was familiar with it. The other men on the ship were a raucous group of 19 to 22 year olds. When they passed the Statue, they went to the rail and became silent. They realized that the Statue was what they were going to defend. The division crossed the Atlantic in June, the same month as D-Day [Annotator's Note: 1944]. The seas were calm that time of year. It was a pleasant journey. There were times when depth charges were heard. If there were any German submarines, they did not come close to the division's ship.

Jack Carver arrived at Utah Beach about six weeks after D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day was the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. Carver's ship was about a mile off the coast when a huge rope ladder was thrown over the side. The troops climbed down the ladder with a full pack and a rifle. They were transferred to LCIs [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft, Infantry] for transit to shore. The vessels moved in relationship to each other such that some men missed making it into the receiving craft. When they missed, they sank to the bottom because of the heavy equipment they carried. The crewmen of the LCI helped the troops into their vessel. They made it to the beach and formed up to march inland. Walking in the opposite direction was captured German prisoners. They, like most prisoners of war, looked like a bunch of Sad Sacks [Annotator's Note: a comical military person]. The captured enemy were headed to POW [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war] camps in America. Carver went through three weeks of training and then became part of General Patton's [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton] Army. It was the best thing that happened to Carver. Patton knew how to fight. He urged his men to eradicate the enemy. Following that orientation, Carver started moving toward the front. That was about 25 miles into France. The Germans were retreating in the face of Patton's advancing tanks. Meanwhile, Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] did not use his tanks he had in reserve. He kept them back awaiting an attack across the Pas de Calais that never materialized. When the Panzer reserve was released, there was a huge amount of Allied troops in France. Patton's tanks fought until they ran out of gas and the infantry moved in behind them. While policing a battlefield, Carver helped pick up wounded, as well as, weapons and gear that could be restored. He discovered a camera on the body of a dead German officer. Since he had previously worked in a camera store, Carver knew what he had picked up. It contained partially exposed film shot by the German. Carver would use that camera to capture pictures through the remainder of his war. He took pictures when his unit paused. He photographed combat scenes, platoon pictures, shots of the Maginot and Siegfried Lines and so forth. In December [Annotator's Note: December 1944], they captured Metz. They were taken offline afterward. They were sent to a former training camp for German and previously French officers. They had comfortable accommodations and good food. The Americans were confident that the Germans were near surrendering. That was where they were when Hitler ordered the Battle of the Bulge on 16 December [Annotator's Note: 16 December 1944].

Jack Carver felt that he [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] had caught the Army flatfooted. The American practice had been to place unproven or battle weary divisions in the area of the Ardennes forests. It was thought to be a quite place with tiny roads. It was not considered practical for the Germans to launch an attack in the proximity. General Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton] made the statement at the time of the attack that he could move to meet the German onslaught quickly. On the night of the 16th [Annotator's Note: the Battle of the Bulge began on 16 December 1944], Carver and his outfit [Annotator's Note: 328th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division] were alerted that they were to move out expeditiously. They went to their vehicles. The orders were simply to move on to the Ardennes, find the enemy, and attack. They moved out with no lights on that bitter cold night. Carver and his outfit stumbled on the enemy in a "meeting engagement" where neither side knew the other side was there. The Civil War was the last such situation. That resulted from when the Confederate cavalry wandered all over the place. In modern warfare, that was not the case with all the advances in detection equipment. It is common for each side to know the locations of the opposing force. Carver was in a convoy of ten vehicles that came over a hill only to discover a German division starting up the opposite side. Both commanders did the right thing. They withdrew in order to determine to composition of the opposition. The confrontation occurred the next day. The "meeting engagement" showed the kind of combat the Bulge would represent. It was not going to be out of the lesson books. Attack was the only thing General Patton understood, even though occasionally the troops had to stop. Carver's division and the 4th Armored turned toward Bastogne where the Germans had concentrated their Panzer divisions. Bastogne was a crossroads leading to other key roads to the west. A murderous SS commander took no prisoners. The SS was an army of its own. It was not like the Wehrmacht. The men of the SS took an oath of allegiance to Hitler. They took no prisoners and the Americans learned to reciprocate. Carver and his outfit were headed to Bastogne outside of the town of Wiltz. The 101st Airborne Division was surrounded at Bastogne and out of food, medical supplies, and ammunition. They were out of everything except courage. When the Germans called for the 101st to surrender, General McAuliffe [Annotator's Note: US Army General Anthony McAuliffe] told them "nuts." Within three hours, the whole US Army knew the story. That redoubled the efforts to relieve the besieged paratroopers. While at Wiltz, which was about ten miles outside Bastogne, Carver's outfit stopped and dug in. Wiltz was heavily defended by the enemy. Carver sought to set up a CP [Annotator's Note: command post] for the long range radio. He was reconnoitering the area with two men when the enemy opened up on them with their famous 88 [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multipurpose field artillery gun]. The 88 was the best cannon of all those used during the war. It could be used against aircraft, tanks and troops. It was even mounted on tanks. Regular artillery gives a soldier a warning with its incoming whistle. The 88 gives no forewarning until it is right over the defenseless man. When the 88 rounds started coming in, Carver and his group scattered and took cover. One of the two men with Carver was an Indian and the other was an Iowa farm boy. The farm boy headed to the trees. The rounds fired by the enemy included some that exploded in the trees. There were tree branches and shrapnel flying all over. Carver had a warm jagged piece of shrapnel on his neck after the firing stopped. He was surprised that he did not have a worse wound from the flying debris. Carver found that one friend was wounded, but the Iowa boy was dead. The shrapnel and tree bursts had killed him. Some of Carver's buddies said his mother must have been praying for him. They did not realize that she had passed when Carver was just 15 years of age. With all the other things that were to happen, Carver would partially forget about the incident. Every now and then, he thought about how fortunate he was not to be hurt by those 88s. He would later discover from freed Holocaust slave laborers that they attempted to sabotage enemy artillery shells they were forced to produce. That was a possibility for why Carver survived the artillery fire. It just might have been a miracle. God may have needed him for other things. [Annotator's Note: Repeated coughing interrupts the interview multiple times.]

Jack Carver participated in the Battle of the Bulge when SS Panzer Divisions attacked green American units in the Ardennes. The enemy ran right over the new troops, scattering them and destroying their equipment. The Germans proceeded down a highway that led through the Ardennes toward Antwerp. That port, with its supplies including gasoline, was their objective. They managed to get behind the whole American Army. The US Army had quartermaster depots established to support the front line troops. The depots contained huge supplies of gasoline to support tanks, trucks, ambulances, airplanes and artillery required for the fighting. The Americans were the only fully mechanized force. The Germans, with their panzers, still had horse drawn vehicles. The Germans felt they could get to Paris and then Antwerp would fall immediately if they reached those depots and the supplies. Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] was counting on that. He would then offer the United States and Britain a temporary cease fire. Hitler could then put all his forces against the hated Russians. He had told his troops to kill everyone they saw. General Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton] did not like Hitler's plan. He went about cutting the roads and prevented the Germans from accessing them and the depots or the supplies from their rear. He split his forces to go after the enemy even if they had run out of gas. They were still dangerous with their machine guns and cannons. A part of Patton's force headed to Bastogne to break the enemy encirclement. The Germans were using their huge Tiger tank. The Americans had nothing in comparison. When the anti-tank weapons fired on them, the round would just bounce off. The American soldier improvised in fighting the massive enemy tank. They would recommend solutions to their commander. The Germans would be shot for similarly doing so. The US soldiers took their bazookas and fired at the treads of the Tiger. When the tread was knocked off, the tank could only move in a circle. At that point, two grenades would be used against the engine in the rear of the vehicle. Once the vehicle started burning, the crew would attempt to escape or surrender. Depending on how they had behaved, they would be picked off or taken as prisoner. The Americans used the bazookas to knock out pillboxes, machine gun nests and other enemy positions. Carver was personally involved in taking out tanks with their crews. The Americans brought all the fire they could onto the enemy. It took well into January [Annotator's Note: January 1945] before the Germans were pushed back. They fell back in a hurry because the Russians were coming into Germany from the east. The Russians had determined that they faced a weakened German force. The whole German Army was destroyed by Patton in six weeks. The huge enemy force was stopped cold. The next job was to go get them in Germany. The Americans were about to experience unexpected discoveries about the treatment of the Jews in Germany.

Jack Carver moved into Germany and crossed the Rhine River. Most of the bridges into Germany had been destroyed but one remained at Remagen. The Americans made it across the river before the German officer in charge could blow up the bridge. Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] had the officer who had failed to destroy the bridge arrested and shot. Once across the Rhine, Carver's unit [Annotator's Note: 328th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division] was reorganized into a large combat team. The objective was to follow a road that proceeded in front of them. All the while, Carver and the division advanced, they had to fight the Grossdeutschland Division in front of them. It appeared that that German division had been assigned to hinder the progress of Carver's division. Each time the 26th Division moved on its next objective, they may have faced opposition or it might be undefended. When the Americans reached a town, the burgermeister was informed that all weapons had to be collected and piled up in front of city hall. The Americans were very serious in the manner in which they demanded compliance. Invariably, there would be great stack of pistols accumulated. The Americans would move into the houses and sleep indoors. Most occupants were women. The majority of men were away fighting at the fronts. The Americans would be cautioned by the locals that Hitler would end up killing them all. In one village, all the windows had white flags hanging out of them except one. It had an American flag. One of the occupants in the apartment, who were all young women with children, told the Americans that her husband had visited relatives in Chicago and returned to Germany with the flag. While the fact was being discussed, Carver noticed that the four young women were all smiling at the armed Americans. They appeared not to be afraid but were enjoying seeing young men. Most of the young men of Germany were away at war. The column began to move out so the Americans left to rejoin their unit. They made no advances toward the young women even though the girls were not frightened at all. Carver's division would liberate a camp in Linz, Austria. While Carver and three other men were scouting around off the main road in their jeep, they came upon a barricade in front of a prison where inmates were wearing the famous black and white uniforms. There were no guards. Those formerly there had fled beforehand. The Americans knocked down the gate with their jeep and proceeded into the camp. It was a work camp to house those who crossed the police, Gestapo or SS. If a prisoner died, it was too bad. It was not like the concentration camps where killing was the principle goal. As prisoners gathered around the jeep, they explained that they were manufacturing something for the military in their work camp. They went on to describe their terrible treatment and the horrible food. While the inmates were explaining their harsh living conditions, Carver observed a German officer coming down from the second floor of a distant building. The enemy officer approached the Americans in their jeep. They knew not to trust anyone in a German uniform. The enemy officer indicated his desire to surrender the camp and himself to Carver and his men. The officer was being jostled around by his former prisoners. One prisoner who had been talking with Carver motioned toward Carver's .45 pistol. Carver handed it to the prisoner who promptly shot the German officer. [Annotator's Note: Carver chuckles.] Prior to that, Carver had planned to take the enemy soldier as a captive. Instead, he called back for assistance with MPs [Annotator's Note: military police] and medical aid. Carver told the prisoners to stay in place and help would be on the way. Another incident occurred when Carver was driving down a road. Out of the woods came a group of horsemen. Carver could not tell by their heavy uniforms who they were. Both the jeep and the horsemen stopped about 100 yards apart. The horsemen began to approach the soldiers in the jeep. They stopped about 75 yards away and the leader approached the Americans by himself. When the leader dismounted and walked up to the jeep, he pointed to the white star on the hood and said "Roosevelt." Carver acknowledged President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: President Franklin D. Roosevelt]. The leader of the horsemen then said "Me Tito." He was not Tito [Annotator's Note: Josip Broz was known as Tito] himself. Tito was the leader of the Yugoslavian resistance during the Nazi occupation. The horsemen were part of Tito's army. Carver acknowledged that he knew who Tito was. The leader then returned to his outfit and the horsemen rode into the forests. [Annotator's Note: Carver chuckles.] Every day was an adventure.

Jack Carver had some rotten adventures during the war. There were two particularly bad ones. As he approached a railroad crossing [Annotator's Note: in Germany], there was an abandoned train with smoke still coming from the engine smokestack. Those manning the train had evidently seen Carver's large combat team which included tanks [Annotator's Note: part of the 26th Infantry Division]. They quickly fled before the Americans reached them. There were four locked boxcars. The colonel ordered the car opened. They gazed on quite a sight. There were piles of bodies. Not all were dead. Over half were dead. They must have been evacuated from a camp to avoid discovery by the advancing Americans. A radio call was made to headquarters and a general came out to inspect the scene. A large medical group as well as military police came to the location. Efforts were made to recover those still alive and treat them. The whole affair had a very sobering effect on the troops. It showed those who questioned the priority of fighting the Germans over the Japanese why they were fighting. Complaints about fighting the Germans ceased. The regular German soldiers were not perpetrating these crimes. The SS was responsible running the camps, as well as, for these inhumane treatments. Carver was trained to fight soldiers. He was not prepared for these revelations. By this time in the war, nothing surprised Carver. The German equipment, including the first jet plane, was so much better than the Allied comparables. German pilots strafed Carver's outfit [Annotator's Note: 328th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division]. After the train incident, things got worse. Bodies would be observed alongside the road. Prisoners or refugees who could not keep up were shot by the SS. In Bavaria, as Carver's outfit came over a hill, they observed a group of prisoners being marched by the SS. A colonel, who was a West Point Texan, came up and ordered the men to attack the guards. Most of the SS fled, but a few made the mistake of firing at the Americans. They did not last long. The Americans were anxious to kill them. Medical attention was called in for those who had been harshly mistreated. There is a current movie called "Fury" that shows some realistic portrayals of the times. Carver personally experienced everything in that movie. Carver's battalion was not part of the liberation of the Gusen concentration camp in Austria [Annotator's Note: also known as the Mauthausen concentration camp]. He was in the area but not directly involved in the liberation. As the war wound down, the German Army was manned partially by young men 16 or 17 years of age and by amputees and older men. They were called the Volkssturm. The highways of Germany had deep ditches on both sides. As Carver's outfit approached a town, they used their field glasses to observe children and old men in the ditches attempting to defend the position. Women were not there. Females were committed to children-kitchen-church. The only armed women Carver knew of otherwise were females in the concentration camps. They could be worse in their treatment of prisoners than the men were. The Volkssturm was armed with old bolt action rifles and pistols. As the Americans approached the town, they called out for the defenders to surrender. The defenders fired on the advancing troops instead. Discussion was over. The colonel fired two tank shells into the defensive position. The war was over for those on the receiving end. Some of the dead were ten years old. That was the nature of the German war machine at the end. After crossing Germany into Czechoslovakia, there were still decimated parts of the Grossdeutschland Division in front of his division. That was where the war ended. The German division commander surrendered to an American colonel. The enemy officer could speak English and commended the 26th Infantry Division for its fighting ability. The division was next moved to Linz, Austria for occupation duty. That was the location of the big Mauthausen concentration camp. It was a camp made up of three sections. There were Russian prisoners. The Americans put a stop to it immediately. Carver thought that the Allies should have killed more of the "bastards." That was what they deserved.

Jack Carver served on occupation duty in Linz, Austria. The Americans ran the town, but at night, the SS was still around. It was dangerous. The Nazis had all of Europe in their grip. It was no different in Germany as opposed to occupation duty in Austria. Each country had bonds with the other. There was a common language. The old royal families who had ruled the countries before were related. Carver's father was originally from Austria. He told of having to wave a small flag at one of the emperors as he passed by in parade. Germany had various types of people. Most knew that to oppose the Nazis meant death. Carver is a member of a chapter of World War 2 veterans called the World War 2 Roundtable. A member usually serves as a speaker for the monthly meeting. Carver has spoken twice. The group's leader would also roundup veterans from all branches of the service to talk of their wartime experiences. The group has currently diminished in numbers to the point that it is now almost disintegrated. [Annotator's Note: Carver takes a poignant pause.] During the war in Europe, Carver kept up with the events in the war against the Japanese. He was part of the communications unit so he had information available. During occupation duty, word came that his division [Annotator's Note: the 26th Infantry Division] was to be transferred home with one month of leave granted. After that leave, the troops were to report to the West Coast to prepare to ship out to attack the Japanese homeland in 1946. Carver was not too happy with the prospect. He knew the Japanese would never surrender. The samurai system considered it unmanly to surrender. That resulted in the abusive treatment of captured Allied prisoners during the war. Some say the Japanese were worse than the Germans, but they confined their abuses mainly to military prisoners. Before the 26th Division went across the ocean, Truman [Annotator's Note: President Harry S. Truman] said "bomb the hell out of them." He saved ten million lives because the Japanese would have fought to the last man, woman and child. That was evident at the Battle of Okinawa where all the military personnel refused to surrender. Additionally, civilians committed suicide in the battle. They jumped into the ocean rather than deal with the Americans whom they had been told would rape, kill and abuse them.

Jack Carver remembers shrapnel landing on his neck as being his most memorable experience of World War 2. [Annotator's Note: During the Battle of the Bulge, hot shrapnel hit his neck but did not penetrate it. It was a close call for Carver.]. The movie "Fury" depicts some details as if the writer had actually participated in the action. One scene actually happened to his battalion. A German officer approached the American battalion on horseback. American troops and vehicles were near the enemy rider. One soldier jumped up and stabbed the German. The movie reflected what had actually happened to Carver's battalion. It was undetermined what that officer was doing on horseback and would never be established. Another similar series of events was shown when the Americans captured a German town. They took prisoners, however, the SS was not allowed to live. Carver saw that happen. The extent of compassion shown to captives was relative to what had happened previously. The emotions and atmosphere of the living conditions made the rules different than other times. That was particularly true after witnessing what those people had done to other humans. Carver knew he had to fight in the war because his country was being attacked. The war totally changed his life. The Army revealed things about himself that he did not know. He did not realize he had a high IQ that enabled him to attend classes at Harvard. The G.I. Bill provided an education for him. His army experience contributed to him being classified as a junior when he entered college. Joining the reserves helped him financially since he was married and had little money. He trained GIs once a week and began raising his family. The Korean War broke out and Carver was recalled. He never went to Korea because of the rules in place at that time. Officers who had been in combat were required to be in the States for two years. As a result, he trained troops at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. Some of the troops were cadets from West Point. Trainees typically run the spectrum of interest and capabilities. The West Pointers, conversely, were highly motivated and interested in Carver's real world wartime knowledge. They would be officers and paid great attention to what Carver said. Some advanced to high ranks. World War 2 provided Carver with an education. During the Korean War, he received an MBA. He discovered that he had a high IQ and leadership qualities. The education led him into the field of his choice - advertising. He worked on Madison Avenue for two large firms. He subsequently was able to travel to Europe for the Gillette Company. He was their international ambassador. When razorblades were not selling in Germany, the leader of the firm determined that the Braun Company sold an electric razor that cut into his company's market. The decision was made to buy that competitor. Gillette executives were sent overseas to take control of Braun's marketing so that it could become an international company. Carver was one of the five key individuals sent to perform that task. Carver met German veterans who spoke good English since they had traveled to the United States. Those trained in English while in England spoke a different variety of the language than those who had gone to the United States and learned the language. Carver had a great time in Germany. He was divorced and found himself to be a very attractive bachelor to the female Braun employees. The company gave him a house and a BMW. Everything was paid for except for the telephone. His salary was split in half with a portion paid in dollars and the rest in marks. There were few German men who were Carver's age. He had a nice time. Braun made multiple products. In that regard, they were similar to G.E.

Jack Carver thinks the youth of today have no idea of the type of war the Second World War was. The movie is good [Annotator's Note: Carver is referring to the 4D experience entitled "Beyond all Boundaries" shown at The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana]. The young people know there was a war and that we won it. They do not know what was going on in the world at the time. Nor do they know the consequences of what would have happened if we were not victorious. Not only is it important to have a National WWII Museum but the education should be provided in every high school. The war made the world they live in. The fighting during the Battle of the Bulge was unimaginable. There was both harsh weather and superior enemy equipment to battle. The enemy broke through and reached 60 miles behind the American lines. Having General Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton] was lucky. Carver and his outfit were outside of Wiltz in combat with the enemy. The battalion headquarters was in an old farmhouse about 75 yards from the front. The front was where the enemy was located. He could be anywhere around you. The enemy could camouflage his position to hide it until the Americans came through. They would then open fire on the unsuspecting advancing soldiers. That is a front. The Germans had superior weapons but the American Garand rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 rifle, also known as the M1 Garand] was better than their rifle. The Garand rifle could fire eight shots at a time. It was a terrific weapon, and accurate. The German bolt action rifle was no comparison. The German tanks and artillery were better than that fielded by the Americans. Although Carver is over the nightly bad dreams about his experiences, he had issues immediately following the war. When he would drive through a wooded area in the United States, he would find himself looking for snipers in the trees. He learned by necessity to live that way in combat. The enemy would hide a grenade behind a crooked picture on the wall. When an American tried to straighten the picture, an explosion would occur. It took the head off the naive soldier. At first, jeep drivers kept their windshields down because explosions would make the glass shatter and hit them in the face and eyes. The Germans learned this and began stringing thin wire across the roads so that it would cut the GI's throat as he drove down the road. Eventually, it was learned that a steel rod with a cutting capability had to be installed in front of the jeeps. That was the kind of enemy we were fighting. It was a war that had to be won. Carver did not talk much about his wartime experience after he returned home. The questions he received could not be answered to someone who never was in combat. He would bluntly answer the question about whether he killed anybody by confirming that he was not just camping over there. To the uninitiated, he would merely smile and say that it was better that they did not know. He came into the service as a kid and came out a different person. It taught him what he could do. In that way, it prepared him for life. It taught him he was bright. He gained an education that led to a successful career. He retired as General Manager of the Braun Division in the United States. He made it one of the biggest brands in the country.

Jack Carver fought face to face with the Germans during the war. They could see each other's faces. It was obvious the enemy was not anxious to see the Americans. The Germans had never run into anything like the Americans in all their previous conquests. Carver was scared much of the time. He had to adjust to a different way of life. Some of the hard learned habits were carried back with him when he returned home. Reactions were performed without thinking about it. As life went on, the family grew and his career progressed. Things returned to normal. There were lessons learned along the way. One thing that Carver is proud of relates to a letter he received. It came via the Fort Devens Army Post Office. The letter came from a combat officer who had been instructed by Lieutenant Carver. The officer expressed his thanks to his teacher. What he had been specifically taught by Carver saved his life. [Annotator’s Note: Carver's emotion shows.] It was worth it. Carver sent home many souvenirs during his deployment. Many Nazi mementos were part of those items. He tore down a Nazi flag from a city hall and sent it home. His first wife did not appreciate what the war was about. Consequently, she threw away the items Carver had sent home. Today, the items would be worth a considerable amount of money. Carver's second wife was born in 1944. She knew little about the war other than her brother was in the conflict. He drove a tank at Kasserine Pass against General Rommel [Annotator's Note: German Army Field Marshall Erwin Rommel]. Her brother was not killed, but he returned mentally disturbed. That ended his military career. Carver understands how that could happen when Rommel faced the untested American armor. Carver's second wife would discover a photograph album compiled by her husband. Carver explained to her that he had used a camera taken off a dead German to capture pictures of his war. She grew interested and developed a history of Carver's actions and his thoughts during the time. When she learned from Carver the ship on which he sailed to Europe, she researched to find a picture of the ship. She researched weapons that were discussed by Carver. She produced a beautiful compilation which was replicated for each of Carver's children. It was amazing. [Annotator's Note: Carver becomes emotional.]