US Marine Corp

3rd Veteran of the Quarter

Nominated by: Wes and Saundra Strange

Sergeant Jack Carns enlisted into the Marine Corps when he was 17 years old. He had his aunt sign his enlistment permission slip because he was under age. By the time the Corps caught up with him, he was training in San Diego and he had already turned 18, so they allowed him to stay.

Sergeant Carns was stationed in the 1st battalion, C-Company, 27th Marines – 5th Division. He trained as a paratrooper and during the course of his career; he made 36 jumps into different battle zones from New Zealand and throughout the South Pacific. He spent time in Iwo Jima and several of the other islands, but the most terrible was when he fought on the shore of Iwo Jima; where there were 22,000 Japanese dug into caves and tunnels throughout the island. Of the 268 men that he went ashore with, most of them were lost and 100 replacements were brought in. When he finally left the island as a gunnery sergeant, there were only 29 of the original 368 men that he went on shore with. After a total of 36 days on Iwo Jima, Sergeant Carns was shipped to Hawaii and shortly thereafter spent three years in occupied Japan.

Later on, Sergeant Carns became involved in the Korean War effort and after approximately 45 days was injured and received the “Purple Heart” for those injuries. In total, Sergeant Carns spent 15 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and was honorably discharged due to his injuries.

Sergeant Carns holds many service medals including: a personal citation ribbon, a Purple Heart, a Presidential Unit Citation with two stars, an American Defense Medal, a Japanese Occupation Medal, an Asiatic-Pacific Medal with seven stars, an American Theatre Medal, a World War II Victory Medal, and the Korean Service Medal.

This is a short synopsis of distinguished service of a 17 year old kid serving his country during World War II and the Korean War. During his career as a Marine there were many tales of his heroism but this captures only a couple of them. His latest honor was being accepted to go on the Honor Flight to Washington D.C. with a plane load of other well-deserved Veterans.