Ross Carter, ca. 1946
Title: Ross Carter Papers
MSS. COLL.: #036
Dates: 1938 - 1995 (bulk dates 1947-1952)
Extent: 2 Hollinger boxes (1 linear foot)
Synopsis: This collection contains information about Ross S. Carter, his last days, the impact that he had on his friends and family, and the prize that was established in his memory at Lincoln Memorial University.
Provenance: Provenance information for most of this collection is not available. Material located within the "Series: Family Donations" were gifted by members of the Fraley family; David & Marie Fraley and Catherine Page Fraley.
Processing: This collection was processed by University Archivist Travis Souther in February 2018. Two accretions to this collection were processed by Archivist Rachel Motes in February 2021; the "Series: Family Donations" and the "Separated Items" sections were created at this time as well.
Biographical Note:
Ross Samuel Carter (9 January 1919 - 18 April 1947) was born the third son of James David (1861 - 1942) and Lelia Viola (nee Fraley) Carter (1887 - 1969) in Duffield, Virginia. Ross Carter attended school at Lincoln Memorial University for three years graduating in 1941 with a bachelors degree in History. During his education, he worked his way through school milking cows and even sleeping in the no longer extant Sieberling dairy barn. After graduating from LMU in June 1941, Ross joined the paratroopers in 1942 to fight with Company C, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Infantry Division during the Second World War. He saw action in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, Netherlands, and Belgium. Ross was wounded in the arm during the initial phases of the Battle of the Bulge on December 20, 1944 at Cheneux, Belgium, but had sufficiently recuperated enough that he rejoined his unit in February 1945. For his heroism under fire, Ross Carter was decorated with the Silver Star. Of the forty men who were originally with his unit, only Ross and two others remained with him at the end of the war.
Coming home from the conflict, Carter regaled his family and friends with the exploits of him and his friends. Encouraged to write a book detailing his experiences, he began composing and organizing his stories in the summer of 1945, working entirely from memory. Ross later wrote:
"What I am writing is not military history but an eyewitness, participated in account and human story of men who fought the enemy to a standstill in many bloody battles all over Europe. I missed only forty-some days of duty with the regiment in three years; and so "was there" when all of these incidents happened."
After the war, Ross reenlisted in the U.S. Army and later took part Task Force Frigid in Alaska in the winter of 1946. During this time a mole on his back became infected and soon developed into cancer. Entrusting his unpublished manuscript to his brother Boyd G. Carter (1908 - 1980), Ross Carter passed away in April 1947. He is buried in the Carter Family Cemetery outside of Duffield, Virginia.
Boyd Carter edited his brother's memoirs and had them first published in 1951. From a diary entry found on the body of a German officer describing the fighting of the 504th during Allied operations around Anzio, Italy, Boyd Carter chose the title: Those Devils in Baggy Pants. The book sold over a million copies almost immediately and has since become one of the most well-known autobiographies of life on the front-lines during WWII. As a result of the book's popularity, Boyd Carter created the Ross S. Carter Prize for Original Writing given to an LMU student.
Series Notes:
The collection contains relatively few items from Ross Carter's time as a student at LMU. A large percentage of the correspondence is from Marie J. Niehaus, one of Ross Carter's friends and the individual who was with him when he passed away. The bulk of the collection centers on the Memorial Award that was established in Ross Carter's memory including correspondence regarding the award from multiple years, forms for monetary contributions to create the award, and actual literary submissions from potential winners. The collection does not contain any of the manuscripts that Ross Carter wrote from 1945-1946 that would later become the basis for Those Devils in Baggy Pants.
Series: Clippings
Series: Ross Carter Correspondence
Series: Marie J. Niehaus Correspondence
Series: Ross Carter Memorial Award Correspondence
Series: Ross Carter Memorial Award Prize Contribution Sheets
Series: Ross Carter Memorial Award 1952 Prize Entries
Series: Publications
Series: Tributes
Series: Family Donations
Separated Items
Location: F.4.4
The University Archives & Special Collections of Lincoln Memorial University are located in the Carnegie-Vincent Library, on the 2nd Floor. To schedule a research visit or to make inquiries, please contact Archivist Rachel Motes.
Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which Lincoln Memorial University assumes no responsibility.
Ross Carter Biography
Box 1
Series: Clippings
Obituary, [Newspaper not identified]: 1947 April 19
"Characters of Book Leave Pages at Author's Grave" [Newspaper not identified]: 1951
"4 Comrades Pay Tribute to Author of 'Those Devils in Baggy Pants'" Kingsport Times: 1952 July 7
Series: Ross Carter Correspondence
Correspondence: 1938
Correspondence: 1940 (3 Photocopies of typed letter)
Correspondence: 1941
Series: Marie J. Niehaus Correspondence
Correspondence: 1947
Series: Ross Carter Memorial Award Correspondence
Correspondence: 1947
Correspondence: 1948
Correspondence: 1951
Correspondence: 1953
Correspondence: 1956
Correspondence: 1957
Correspondence: 1965
Correspondence, 1969
Correspondence: 1970
Correspondence: 1971
Correspondence: 1972
Correspondence: 1973
Correspondence: 1982
Correspondence: 1995
Series: Prize Contribution Sheets
Prize Contributions Sheets, 1947
Prize Contribution Sheets, 1948
Series: 1952 Prize Entries
Prize Entry: "The Decision," 1952
Prize Entry: "The End," 1952
Prize Entry: "Final Encounter," 1952
Prize Entry: "Goodbye, Chris," 1952
Prize Entry: "The Harvest," 1952
Prize Entry: "Hilltop," 1952
Prize Entry: "Light Comes After Darkness," 1952
Prize Entry: "Marriage Relation," 1952
Prize Entry: "Mercy of the Secret," 1952
Prize Entry: "A Morning in March," 1952
Prize Entry: "A Most Interesting Conversation," 1952
Prize Entry: "Past: Four Variations," 1952
Prize Entry: "Past Remembrances," 1952
Prize Entry: "Responsibility of Good Government," 1952
Prize Entry: "Short Short Story," 1952
Prize Entry: "Thou Shalt Not Kill," 1952
Prize Entry: "Three Poems," 1952
Prize Entry: "Where He Leads Me," 1952
Prize Entry: "Gillis Wilmouth Poetry," 1952
Prize Entry: "The Youth," 1952
Series: Publications
Paraglide, Spring 1956
Paraglide, Fall 1956
Paraglide, Spring 1957
Series: Tributes
Jean Barkley Tribute: 1991
Boyd G. Carter Poetry: "To Ross in Memoriam"
Ross S. Carter Poetry: "On What Obscure Battlefield---?"
Box 2
Series: Family Donations
Sub-series: David & Marie Fraley Donation
Reader's Digest, October 1951
Les Demons Du Ciel by Ross S. Carter, Amiot Dumont, Paris, 1952
Sub-series: Catherine Page Fraley Donation
Photographs: Ross Carter and the Fraley-Carter Family
Newspaper Clipping: LMU "Yank" Has Narrow Escape on Anzio Beachhead
Correspondence: Ross Carter to Uncle William Elbert Fraley, Anzio Front March 22, 1944
Separated Items
Books
Lunteren, Frank van. 2014. The Battle of the Bridges : The 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Operation Market Garden. Philadelphia: Casemate.
Lunteren, Frank van. 2015. Blocking Kampfgruppe Peiper : The 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the Battle of the Bulge. Philadelphia: Casemate.
Lunteren, Frank van. 2016. Spearhead of the Fifth Army : The 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Italy from the Winter Line to Anzio Hardcover ed. Philadelphia: Casemate.
[Identification of Item], Ross Carter Papers, University Archives &Special Collections, Lincoln Memorial University, TN, USA.
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