Page 8 - The Peorian, Vol 3 Issue 2

8 thePeorian.com
“The way the sounds came
out it was hard to say if he was
blowing Chow Call, Taps or
Reveille, but whatever it was
the firing let up and then ceased
all together. We all gathered
around the man that had blown
the horn. He said, ‘Hell, I never
blew one of the damn things
before in my life, but I had to do
something.’”
Later Carl learned that
a General had ordered the
building they were in destroyed
by naval fire. In fact, a sergeant
told him that he was about to
ring up the navy for the barrage
when they heard the sound of
the bugle, which resulted in the
cease fire.
Among the peace and quiet
the prisoners, all 210 of them,
were corralled and marched off
to the beach. The war was over
for them.
It was a remarkable story
that would be recounted in
TIME Magazine, where 17
paratroopers turned the tables
on their German captors, taking
all 210 of them prisoners.
‘A SMALL MISHAP’
That’s how Carl reluctantly
described his severe injury to
his hands and fingers when he
volunteered to attempt to disarm
a jerry-rigged piece of enemy
ordnance that was posing a
threat to the troops.
“It wasn’t the bomb that got
me, it was the detonating cap
that I had in my hands.”
Carl was awarded a Purple
Heart because of his injuries.
THEY HAD A DREAM
“We were married over in
Peoria in 1946 and Marly and I
discovered that we both had had
a dream about living in Alaska,
so in 1947 that is exactly what
we did. I ended up having a job
with Pan Am Airways and lived
in Ketchikan, Alaska as well as
Annette Island. We stayed there
40 years as I later developed a
large insurance agency.”
Carl Porter has lived an
extraordinary life, a lucky one
he claims, with his beloved wife
Marly and his marvelous family.
He lives alone now among his
friends in Buehler Home with his
memories and the pictures of his
bride in a wedding dress made
from a parachute he sent her.
The Past
Carl Porter in his apartment at the Buehler Home in Pekin, showing a photo of his late wife Marly in her wedding
dress that was made out of one of his World War II parachutes.