Viewpoints
Tom Carlin
by June Allen
March 13, 2004
Saturday
I was sad to read that Tom Carlin passed away. We all knew him
from the annual Fourth of July parades when he marched with the
town's other proud veterans. Tom was always dressed in his Marine
Corps dress uniform for the occasion - and still able to fit
into it!
What many people might not know is that Tom was a Midwest boy
when Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941. Like so many
others of his generation at the time, he obtained parental permission
to enlist and off he went. He was off to the South Pacific before
he knew it in that fast-arriving year of 1942 and was soon in
battle. At the end of the successful struggle for Guadalcanal,
Tom was just 16 years old! He served all through that long war
like the other young men of that era of patriots. He will always
be one of the honorees in my unwritten list of Ketchikan heroes!
Goodbye, Tom.
June Allen
Palmer, AK - USA
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