Sgt. Edward Carter Jr. — The WWII Hero Who Fought Through Six Wounds

For more than fifty years, the full weight of what Edward Alan Carter Jr. did on a March day in 1945 went without the recognition it deserved. He and six other African American veterans of World War Two weren't awarded the Medal of Honor until 1997 — the first and only Black Americans to receive that distinction for their service in that war.

Carter's path to that moment was unlike almost anyone else in uniform. Born in Los Angeles, he grew up abroad as the son of a missionary, spending formative years in China. By the age of fifteen, he was already fighting — first alongside Chinese Nationalist forces, then in Spain. When he eventually returned to the United States however the Army's racial policies kept him behind the wheel of a truck in England rather than in combat. That changed in 1944, when General Eisenhower opened infantry service to Black soldiers. Carter joined the 56th Armored Infantry Battalion and later served with the 12th Armored Division's 50th Armored Infantry Battalion — the division's only Medal of Honor recipient.

In March of 1945, Carter was riding atop a tank when enemy fire forced his unit to a halt. He volunteered to lead a small reconnaissance group toward a warehouse where the fire appeared to be originating. Before they reached it, two of his men were killed and one was wounded. Carter himself had already been hit. He sent the surviving soldier back to receive medical attention and continued forward alone.

He was struck four more times. Still, when eight German soldiers moved to capture him, Carter killed six and took the other two prisoner. He then used those two captives as cover to make his way back to his unit. The intelligence the prisoners provided — details on enemy troop movements and supply lines — gave Carter's unit a clearer picture of what lay ahead.

Sergeant Carter died in 1963, never having received the nation's highest military honor in his lifetime. The posthumous Medal of Honor, awarded by President Clinton in 1997, came as part of a broader review that found racial bias had systematically excluded Black servicemen from consideration decades earlier.