Cleland Franklin Carr, US Navy WWII

CLELAND FRANKLIN CARR was the son of Nello Carr and Irma Edith Isom. He was born January 05, 1921 in Christopher, Illinois, and died November 07, 1994 in Memphis, Tennessee. He married EUNICE EARLE DUNN August 31, 1942, daughter of RICHARD A. DUNN and DOROTHY CHOATE. She was born in Trigg County, KY.

When Cleland was a baby, the family moved from Illinois to Trigg County with his grandparents. He graduated from high school in Linton, KY. In 1941 he took a salesman's position at the J.C. Penney store in 1941. When the war broke out Cleland went into the US Navy and served from May 1942 - October 1945. He saw combat action in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of the war.

    He participated in the attack on the German submarine or, U boat, U-616 which after 3 days of a relentless depth charge attacks by the USS Rodman and several other allied ships, the U-616 surfaced from battle damage and was scuttled by it's crew of 53 on May 17, 1944. All were rescued. He was also involved in the Normandy landings and other combat support roles before his ship, the USS Rodman DD 456, continued on to Boston from New York for conversion to a destroyer minesweeper.

  The Rodman was in one of the heaviest "Kamikaze" attacks off the island of Okinawa, April 6, 1945. He suffered from burns to his legs during this attack. In all, sixteen men were killed or missing, 20 others were wounded during the 3 1/2 hour attack. The Rodman earned 5 battle stars during WWII.

 When he returned home from the war, Cleland returned to his position as a salesman at the J.C. Penney store in Princeton, KY where he was appointed assistant manager in 1949. From Princeton, he was transferred to Middlesboro, KY and later to Morristown, TN and Rock Hill SC before his promotion to manager in Paris, TN. In all, he worked at J.C. Penney for 40 years in 6 different stores. Him and his wife raised a family of two daughters. In 1972 he moved to Memphis, Tennessee where he lived until his death in 1994

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