PVT 1C Harold Carson Short (SN 33047997) was born on the 17 of October 1918 in Virginia to Ada Bolling and Alexander J Short, also of Virginia.

Harold’s father worked as a farmer for most of his life, while his Mom was home with the children. Similar to many young men of this time period, PVT 1C Harold did not finish school, but went to work in the lumber industry. In 1929, his Mother Ada fell ill with pneumonia and passed away. His father remarried another woman of the same first name, Ada Jones. He had 7 siblings.

PVT Short submitted his draft card on October 16, 1940 and enlisted some time after. They assigned him to the 116th Infantry Regiment. Training began at Fort Meade, Maryland. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the regiment went to Fort A.P. Hill for further training. In September 1942, the 116th boarded the Queen Mary and set sail for England. She was so fast; she did not require any escort ships. Upon arrival, they were stationed at Tidworth where they trained for 7 months. In June of 1943, the 116th left and moved to Devon to assume coastal duties. In May 1944, the regiment took part in Exercise Fabius I, in Slapton Sands.

For Normandy, the 116th was to lead the invasion via Omaha Beach. PVT Carson was in Company D which was a part of 1st Battalion. They boarded the ship SS Empire Javelin. When they eventually landed, they were off course and took heavy fire. According to his hospital admission card, a bullet killed Pvt Carson. They initially laid him to rest in St.Laurent, Daveux, France. In 1947, they moved PVT Carson to his ultimate resting place at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. The 116th Regiment would later earn the Presidential Unit Citation and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm for the D Day landings.

1.1940 United States Federal Census

2.Virginia, US birth records 1912-2015

3.U.S. National Cemetery Interment Control Forms

4. http://www.americandday.org/Documents/29th_ID-116th_IR-1st_Bn-D_Company-Group_Critique_Notes.html

5. http://worldwar2files.com/29thinfantrydivision/index.html

6. U.S. World War II Hospital Admission Card Files 1942-1954

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

Harold C Short