Normandy, Battle of the Bulge, Fort Scott

Saturday, November 8, 2014
Jason E. Silvers/Tribune photo Local veteran Leonard Carnes reads a book on World War II history in his room at Fort Scott Manor. Carnes was in the U.S. Army 87th Infantry during WWII.

Leonard Carnes has seen a little bit of everything throughout the course of his military career.

The 92-year-old local veteran, currently a resident at Fort Scott Manor, recently shared some of his World War II experiences as a soldier with the U.S. Army 87th infantry during the 1940s. Carnes said he was involved in both the "D-Day" invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, a major German offensive campaign, in 1944.

As he leafed through a book on World War II history, occasionally showing photographs of significant people, places and events from that time, Carnes talked about his time supporting his infantry unit and manning artillery during his four years in Europe. Carnes manned 155mm Howitzer cannons he fired that "could shoot 13 miles if we wanted to."

"They had these 95-pound shells," he said. "It could shoot up and down. The German tanks were too heavy to travel fast."

After graduating from high school and then-Fort Scott Junior College in 1940, Carnes, who has lived in Fort Scott his entire life, enlisted in the Army and trained in Mississippi and South Carolina. He and his unit, along with their equipment, later departed for Europe from New Jersey. They unloaded all their equipment once in Liverpool, England.

"It took us 11 days to go to Europe," he said.

During the war, Carnes said his outfit worked its way up through France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Carnes recalled some memories he has of spending his 21st birthday in frigid conditions during the Battle of the Bulge, including one of sleeping in the snow.

"The Germans were trying to push us back in the lake or river," he said. "That was the worst winter we ever had. It was 19 below zero."

Carnes said his unit was involved in liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp, a German Nazi concentration camp near Weimar, Germany. It was one of the first and largest concentration camps on German soil.

"It was quite a job disarming German prisoners," Carnes said.

While stationed overseas, Carnes said often many small airplanes would be flying above their heads. The Allied troops were able to tell the difference between friendly aircraft and German aircraft.

"The friendly planes dipped their aircraft," he said. "German planes were shot down."

Carnes and other troops who were in Czechoslovakia when the war ended in 1945 boarded a British ship to return to the U.S. On the trip home, Carnes said he recalled several of the more than 5,000 soldiers on the ship becoming seasick. One image that he said stands out in his memory concerning his return to the U.S. is that of the Statue of Liberty.

"We were scheduled to go to Fort Benning, Georgia for more training," he said.

That, however, would be the end of Carnes' military career. Carnes said he worked for 66 years with a local lithochrome company that was located at Wall and Broadway streets before a Joplin, Mo.-based company bought the business out. His son, Mike Carnes, also worked with his father in the business. Carnes didn't retire until the age of 90.

"We shipped all over the U.S., Canada and England," Leonard said.

With all of the thousands of losses and casualties in the conflicts he was involved in, Carnes said he was fortunate to not be one of them. He lost many men in his own company.

"I could have been one of them but the Germans were not very good shots, I guess," he said.

Carnes said when he is able and when the weather is favorable, he has remained active in the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 1165 and likes to attend community events related to veterans. He said he enjoyed being driven by the Fort Scott National Historic Site in September to view the nearly 7,000 flags recognizing those who have died in the War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan that stood on the site's parade grounds as part of the Symbols of Sacrifice event.

Carnes said he played football while attending Fort Scott High School and Fort Scott Junior College.