Carnarius, Stanley E. (33590016): Difference between revisions

'''Stanley E. Carnarius''' (born 6 July 1924) was a Peoria-born U.S. Army order-of-battle specialist associated with [[Camp Ritchie]]. He trained with [[:Category:Class 18|Class 18]] and [[:Category:Class 19|Class 19]], served with [[Team OB 38|OB Team 38]] attached to the 87th Infantry Division in France and the Ardennes, and later held the rank of first lieutenant.

Carnarius trained at [[Camp Ritchie]] with [[:Category:Class 18|Class 18]] and [[:Category:Class 19|Class 19]], first in photo interpretation. In the field they learned to make contour maps on the spot: sketch from an aerial photograph onto tracing paper, add color on the back, and read woods, roads, and shadows. After 27 days on kitchen patrol he moved into order-of-battle work. His German final was a trick question about how he would fix breakfast, pans and utensils included; the point was only whether he knew the language. Carnarius turned the exchange around and asked the instructor to explain, in German. The program head would not flunk him; the instructor was furious.

In October 1944 he was alerted for overseas, transferred to the Detached Enlisted Men's List, and promoted to staff sergeant. The team went through England to an intelligence headquarters outside Paris and joined the 87th Infantry Division with [[Team OB 38|OB Team 38]]. On arrival Carnarius later recalled a pile of GI boots in the town square. He said the division commander had pushed the unit about ten kilometers beyond the line, taken fire, and suffered heavy losses, was relieved, then reinstated after a corps-boundary change.

 

German-speaking prisoner interviewers checked and corrected the team's estimates of enemy forces at the front. Carnarius interrogated a German officer who had held the equivalent job. Asked whether he would have revealed such things if the roles were reversed, he said he would not; the prisoner answered, "Then why should I tell you?" They talked about other things instead.

 

During the German attack in the Ardennes they rode an all-night blackout convoy of hundreds of vehicles, following slit tail lights and stopping to avoid collisions. After the drive Carnarius had bloodshot red slits across his eyes from straining to see. His master sergeant was nominally a driver trainee but was so dangerous behind the wheel that they nearly died several times; an officer put the sergeant in the back and had Carnarius, a new driver, take the wheel. Carnarius kept the G-2 enemy-situation map current. When senior officers said it was wrong, he told them to check the general's mail, was scolded for reading it, and answered that was how he kept the map up to date.

 

Near the end of the war in Europe they heard that President Roosevelt had died. Orders signed by Eisenhower then sent the small order-of-battle team back to Paris. Carnarius chose to stay with the 87th rather than transfer into Japanese-language work. After he returned to the United States the war ended with the atomic bombs, and he never went to Japan. He finished his service as a first lieutenant.

* Camp Ritchie Class 18 (section 7A) and Class 19 (section 6J); photo interpretation, contour mapping, then order of battle after 27 days of kitchen patrol.

* 1944 — Through England to an intelligence headquarters outside Paris; OB Team 38 attached to the 87th Infantry Division.

* December 1944 – January 1945 — Battle of the Bulge: all-night blackout convoy into the Ardennes; kept the G-2 enemy-situation map.

* 12 April 1945 — With the team when news arrived that President Roosevelt had died.

* 1945 — Eisenhower orders sent the OB team back to Paris; Carnarius stayed with the 87th rather than transfer to Japanese-language training.

* 1945 — Returned to the United States; the war ended before a Pacific deployment.