Women dressed to the nines, and men — some in tuxedoes, some retired, some wearing active duty military class A uniforms — comprised about 150 people earlier this month for a Gig Harbor Lions Club roast of war hero Arch Carpenter at Canterwood Golf & Country Club.
Gig Harbor Lions Club President John Kirry officiated and Jim Borgen served as the auctioneer.
There was even an appearance by Army fatigue-wearing, rifle carrying “Willy and Joe,” Bill Mauldin’s Stars and Stripes newspaper cartoon with WWII GIs.
Carpenter, whose life took center stage, presented a check of $2,000 to USO Director and U.S. Navy Cdr. Don Leingang on behalf of the Lions club. Many club members who served in uniform benefited from activities of the USO during several wars.
The high points of Carpenter’s life were presented in a movie, along with comments from Maj. General Guy S. Meloy (Ret.), who, in May, 2008, wrote: “Volumes have been written about the benefits of training lieutenants at unit level. While still in the deep learning stage of my career, I was one of several fortunate lieutenants trained by an exceptionally wise and experienced company commander, Arch E. Carpenter.”
Fellow Lions Club member Ray Zimmerman’s wife Judy read about how he and Carpenter had been boyhood friends, and about Carpenter being somewhat of a daredevil.
“He swept ahead of me on a downhill dash on our bikes and, turning to ‘nya nya’ me, plowed into a tree and ruined his bike and injured himself,” Zimmerman wrote.
Brad Carpenter, the fourth of five Carpenter children, represented his family. When he completed his testimonial to his father and his family, several who have known Arch for years were surprised at how little they knew about him.
“My first memories of my dad are of times at Birch Bay, maybe 5 or 6 years old, following and tracing his large footsteps in the sand, being a young kid trying to walk like the man I looked up to,” Brad Carpenter said. “By the time I was 18, my shoe size had eclipsed his, and my height and stride were greater then his. I did not need his advice, wisdom or insights, as I knew so much more.
“I was around 24 or 25 when I suffered setbacks and turned to him for help. I was amazed at how much he had learned in those seven years.”
Carpenter said his father has the heart of a true warrior who often placed himself in harm’s way and helped oppressed people find dignity and freedom.
“He has the unique blend of passion and compassion of a warrior that allows for the strong desire to protect and defend,” he said.
Arch Carpenter entered WWII after he graduated from high school. On his 18th birthday, he trained in Italy with the Pathfinders.
With the Invasion of France, he dropped behind enemy lines with the legendary 550th Battalion, capturing and liberating key cities and intersections while waiting for soldiers from the beaches to catch up with them.
Carpenter fought in the Battle of the Bulge and witnessed the lowering of the 550th standard as the battalion ceased to exist. Not having enough men to form a company, they were integrated into elements of the 17th Airborne.
Carpenter assisted in the liberation of concentration camps that were holding Jewish and Polish prisoners.
As the European war wound down, he was evacuated for malaria that he contracted in Italy almost two years previously.
Watching as Army doctors went through hospital wards, returning able-bodied soldiers to duty, he sensed something was up: He was not on the list to rejoin.
So Carpenter discharged himself that night, was reported AWOL, rejoined the last of his Band of Brothers and made the jump across the Rhine River into Germany, wearing his hospital pajamas beneath a stolen pair of coveralls.
Carpenter was with the platoon that captured Chancellor Franz Von Papen which effectively ended WWII.
He fought in five separate campaigns during the war and was evacuated from Germany on his 20th birthday, again for malaria.
Carpenter attended the University of Washington on the GI bill, married his childhood sweetheart, Maryellen, and graduated from the school of architecture at the beginning of the Korean conflict.
Given a commission as second lieutenant, he fought in three campaigns in Korea.
“In one, he was shot through the leg but returned for another wounded soldier, firing the last of his ammo, to carry him from harm’s way on a hill named Bloody Baldy,” Brad Carpenter said. “The Chinese, who had overrun the hill, stopped to watch as my dad, limping and crawling, half dragged the other man away.
“My dad claims the Chinese thought they were both dying and chose not to waste another shot. John Goodner, the sergeant whose life he saved, insists the Chinese stopped out of respect because they had never seen such honor and bravery.”
Brad Carpenter said that changed his father’s career choice.
“Disappointed that many young men died, many from a lack of training and leadership, he chose the Army as a career to dedicate himself to the principles of training young men,” he said.
Fifty years later, there are articles in Army training manuals depicting the “Arch Carpenter Way.”
In 1958, he commanded an airborne company deployed to stabilize a civil war in Lebanon. He did two tours in Vietnam, the first as an adviser in the Mekong Delta, the second as a battalion commander of a fire base near the border between South and North Vietnam.
Carpenter retired in 1980 as Chief of Staff to the 6th Army as one of the most decorated Army officers in American history.
Decorations he collected through 12 campaigns as a combat infantryman include two Silver Stars, four Legions of Merit, five Bronze Stars, four Air Medals, a Joint Service Commendation, four Army Commendation Medals and one Purple Heart.
Other decorations include three Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry and several foreign countries’ acts of appreciation. His most prized citation is the Combat Infantry Badge with three awards, of which fewer than 300 have ever been given.
“I was able to tour the U.S. Army Infantry Hall of Fame a few years ago in Fort Benning, Ga.,” Brad Carpenter said. “He has an honored place in this museum filled with so many memories of those who have served.
“Not very surprising that, on entering civilian life, he chose to join a club with the motto, ‘We Serve.’ ”
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