Uploaded April 2013 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
Carl Gwartney said, "I always wanted to fly." He learned to fly when he was a teenager and owned half a plane by the time he was sixteen.
When WWII broke out on December 7, 1941 Carl was at the front of the line volunteering to become a pilot. But because he was married he was not allowed to fly powered aircraft. Soon after, the US established its Combat Glider Pilot program, and married men could apply. Carl was in the first class of Combat Glider Pilots.
He was in North Africa, Sicily, England, Holland and France. He flew in the first wave of gliders in Operation Market Garden, the ill-fated attempt to seize the bridges from Holland into Germany. For twelve days after he landed in the small village of Nijmegen, Holland, he fought his way back to Allied lines, escaping death more than once.
Carl lived to be almost 93. He was an optimistic gentleman, always looked forward and never looked back, except to wonder to his dying day why and how WWII had happened, and what it had done to him.
Carl Gwartney said, "I always wanted to fly." He learned to fly when he was a teenager and owned half a plane by the time he was sixteen.
When WWII broke out on December 7, 1941 Carl was at the front of the line volunteering to become a pilot. But because he was married he was not allowed to fly powered aircraft. Soon after, the US established its Combat Glider Pilot program, and married men could apply. Carl was in the first class of Combat Glider Pilots.
He was in North Africa, Sicily, England, Holland and France. He flew in the first wave of gliders in Operation Market Garden, the ill-fated attempt to seize the bridges from Holland into Germany. For twelve days after he landed in the small village of Nijmegen, Holland, he fought his way back to Allied lines, escaping death more than once.
Carl lived to be almost 93. He was an optimistic gentleman, always looked forward and never looked back, except to wonder to his dying day why and how WWII had happened, and what it had done to him.
