Fred Carr's life story as told to Patchwork by Fred Carr.

Interviewed by Orey Miller & Brandon Shultz in the spring of 2001

   Fred Carr took place in one of America’s historical event, World War II.  He went to school in Bloomsburg.  Many of his friends were admitted into World War II but were mostly separated.  After he was discharged from the war during 1945, he persude a career in carpentry with his father.  He got married and had a child.

   World War II began when Germany, with Adolf Hitler invaded Poland during the summer of 1939 at the Leluns.

PATCHWORK: What was your rank in World War II?

CARR: I finally made T-Five, which is Corporal Technician Demolition Specialist.

PATCHWORK: Was there anyone from Bloomsburg or the surrounding area in your outfit when you were in WWII?

CARR: Not with me, but there was a number of us who went from Bloomsburg that I knew at the time, but we were all separated, all went to different outfits.  It was very common in World War II to split people up, not to have very many people from the same area in the same outfit.  The theory behind that was that if the outfit was wiped out, it didn't take so many people from the same community.

PATCHWORK: What was it like for you in the war?

CARR: Rainy and cold. It was really cold and rough.  If you read the history of World War II, we were in the 106th infantry division 81st combat engineers. Our division suffered 9,000 casualties in ten days.

PATCHWORK: How long were you in the war?

CARR: I went in March of 1943 and was discharged in September 1945.  I had eighty-seven days on the front line.

PATCHWORK: Were you ever injured in the war?

CARR: No.

PATCHWORK: That's good.  You didn't have any brothers or sisters or any immediate family that served in World War II with you?

CARR: No.

PATCHWORK: What single incident will you always remember about it?

CARR: The ten days at the Battle of the Buldge.

PATCHWORK: We're just curious as to what the CCC exactly was?

CARR: It was the Civilian Conservation Core.  President Roosevelt formed it to make-work for the young people that were unemployed because it was not unwanted.  There was very little employment in the 1930s because of the Great Depression, and it was to make jobs for people.  There were a number of job fields like working in the forest, building dams, and building roads.  The first six months I was in Arizona, we were building fences between ranches.  We were in the Petrified National Forest in Arizona, on the Painted Desert which was where a lot of people go sightseeing to see the Petrified wood, the Painted Desert, and the Grand Canyon.

PATCHWORK: What career did you pursue after WWII?

CARR: Carpenter.

PATCHWORK: How did you get started?

CARR: My dad was a carpenter.  I had gotten married to an Indian girl during the war and after I came back from the army, I needed to support my wife.  So, I went to work with my dad as a carpenter.  I worked with him for three years and then I started in business for myself as a small contractor.