More detail on this person: Retired Army Col.
Anthony Carroll, 82, of Carlisle, Pa., died Monday
in the Carlisle Regional Medical Center.
He was born Oct. 8, 1930, in Butler, and was a son
of the late Anthony Carroll and Mr. and Mrs.
Arthur Vickey.
Carroll graduated from Butler High School in 1948
and had a bachelor's degree from Troy State
University in Alabama and a master's degree in
business from Shippensburg University.
Carroll has served in the military uniform for
more than 36 years. He enlisted in the Butler unit
of the Pennsylvania National Guard in 1947 while a
junior in high school. He worked for the National
Guard in Butler until he was called to active duty
at the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950.
He was a sergeant first class with the 28th
Infantry division at Camp Atterbury, Ind., until
1951. Commissioned an infantry lieutenant in 1952,
he completed airborne training the same year. He
completed flight training in 1953 and flew with
the 45th and 24th Infantry Divisions in Korea
during 1953-1954. He then served with the 1st
Calvary Division in Japan until 1956.
Carroll flew for four years as a test pilot with
the Army Aviation Test Board at Fort Rucker, Ala.,
where he pioneered the arming of the Army
helicopters with anti-tank guided missiles,
rockets and other weapons. Demonstrating the
French SS-11 ATGM for President Eisenhower and
top defense officials, he scored three direct hits
on tanks at the maximum two mile range,
convincing the president that helicopters could
destroy tanks. He was selected to fire the first
nuclear weapon from an Army helicopter had that
project proceeded.
He flew the last Army P-51 Mustang and was the
first Army pilot qualified to fly helicopters
under instrument weather conditions. He was sent
to Okinawa in 1961 to oversee the arming of the
first helicopter gunships to see action in the
Vietnam War.
In 1963, he was assigned as one of the original
members of the newly formed 11th Air Assault
Division at Fort Benning, Ga., and participated in
the testing and evaluation of the Army's new
airmobile concept. In 1965, the division was
redesignated as the 1st Air Cavalry Division and
deployed to the Central Highlands of Vietnam where
it fought the first American division-scale battle
of the war against the North Vietnamese 325th
Division at Plei Me only weeks after arriving in
Vietnam.
Then a major, Carroll served in this and other
campaigns as the executive officer of an airborne
infantry battalion, making a number of parachute
jumps in Vietnam.
From Vietnam, he returned to the Aviation Test
Board, where for the next four years he again
participated in the test and evaluation of
numerous experimental aircraft and new Army
aircraft and weapons systems.
In 1970, he returned to Vietnam for another year
of combat duty, serving first as the deputy
commander of the 164th Combat Aviation Group,
the largest unit of its type in Vietnam. Later he
took command of the 214th Combat Aviation
Battalion, which operated 155 combat aircraft over
a 15,000 square mile area, which included the U
Minh Forest, the Mekong River Delta and parts of
Cambodia. The battalion he commanded included
officers and enlisted men from the Royal
Australian Navy and the Vietnamese and
Cambodian Air Forces, as well as the U.S. Army.
He flew more than 660 hours in combat operations
and had over 10,000 hours of flying time during
his career. After his second tour in Vietnam, he
was assigned to the Department of the Army staff
in the Pentagon, where he managed development of
programs for new weapons systems.
He attended the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle
Barracks, the Army's highest level of military
education. After graduation, he was assigned to
the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in
Washington, where he was responsible for the
preparation of plans and exercises to test
worldwide nuclear war procedures.
In 1976, he was selected to command the 2nd
Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort
Bragg, N.C. Following this command, he returned to
Carlisle and taught global military strategy at
the Army War College for five years.
He received 54 awards and decorations for valor
and service, including two Legions of Merit, three
Distinguished Flying Crosses, four Bronze Stars,
23 Air Medals, two Meritorious Service Medals, the
Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry and Honor
Medals, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Master
Army Aviator Badge, U.S. and Vietnamese
Parachutist Badges, the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Badge, and the Army Staff Badge.
Carroll retired as a regular Army colonel in 1983
with more than 36 years of military service.
Carroll is survived by his loving wife of 62 years
Virginia Lawhead Carroll; three children,
daughter, Debra Cline of Colorado, son, Daniel and
his wife, Karen, of Carlisle and daughter Dotty
Price of Carlisle; a sister, Barbara Browning of
Florida; a sister-in-law, Helen Carroll of
Maryland, five grandchildren and six
great-grandchildren.
CARROLL - Visitation for retired Army Col. Anthony
Carroll, who passed away Monday, April 29, 2013,
will be at Ronan Funeral Home, 225 York Road,
Carlisle, Pa., from 11 a.m. until the time of the
service Monday. Funeral services will be at the
funeral home at noon Monday with the Rev. Dwight
D. Schlaline officiating. Burial with military
honors will follow in Indiantown Gap National
Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be
directed to The Salvation Army, 125 S. Hanover
St., Carlisle, PA 17013.
Online condolences may be expressed at
www.ronanfh.com.
Published in Butler Eagle from May 4 to May 5,
2013
This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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