CARRUTH, Adrian Phillips, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana File prepared by D.N. Pardue and submitted by Inez Bridges Tate. ************************************************ Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ From "St. Helena Vets Remember World War II: Personal Interviews With World War II Vets", published by St. Helena Historical Association, 1995. Compiled and edited by Inez Bridges Tate and reprinted with permission. Adrian Phillips Carruth, son of Ransom and Eudora Phillips Carruth, was born near Liverpool, Louisiana, October 26, 1915. He graduated as Valedictorian from Oakland High School in March 1931, and entered the Louisiana State University. He received a commission in the United States Army through the ROTC program. After L.S.U., Adrian served in the Civilian Conservation Corps at the Kentwood camp and was for six months commander there. He was employed with the State of Louisiana in Baton Rouge when he was called to active duty in the spring of 1940. At that time with war raging in Europe and Asia, the United States had begun mobilizing to protect American national interest. Adrian was stationed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Dur- ing the summer of 1940 members of his family visited him on post. While at Fort Jackson they attended a parade in which General George C. Marshall, Army Cheif of Staff, reviewed the troops. They also had the leisure to travel with Adrian to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. In February 1941, Adrian spent two weeks at home. He had recently seen President Roosevelt up close at a train station, a fact he related to his family. He was surprised at how crippled the President was. Adrian had several serious conversations during that furlough when he warned that the United States would soon be involved in World War II. That fall Adrian's unit, Service Company, 34th Infantry Regiment, the 8th Division, went on manuevers to Kershaw, South Carolina. There he died in a vehicle accident Sunday morning, November 2, 1941. His body was returned by train to Amite, Louisiana, escorted by Lt. Chester Carville, a friend from university days. Following services at Day's Methodist Church, his remains were interred in the family plot in the church cemetery. For those at that ceremony the echoes of taps unknow- ingly marked the end of an ear, for less than a month later the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. - - - - - Newspaper Clippings: LIEUT. CARRUTH DIED IN CRASH AT FORT JACKSON 12 November 1941 First Lieutenant Adrian P. Car- ruth was killed in a crash involv- ing U.S. Army vehicles while on maneuvers at Kershaw, South Carolina, at 9:00 a.m. Sunday, November 2. The body arrived in Amite Wed- nesday in company with a special military escort. Funeral services were held at Day's Methodist church six miles north of Greens- burg at 10 a.m. Thursday follow- ed by interment in the adjoining cemetery. The Rev. R.V. Fulton of Greensburg was assisted in the ser- vice by Dr. S.R. Gordon and Rev. A.A. McKnight of Amite. Pall- bearers were Lieut.Carville of Camp Jackson, Bert Allen, Horace Lee, Warren Allen, Lloyd Carruth, Laurie Breeden of Liverpool, John Claude Holstead, Jr., of Amite, and Wm. Phillips, of Baton Rouge. LieutenantCarruth was a mem- ber of a prominent family of St. Helena parish. He was born near Liverpool on October 26, 1915, was a graduate of the Oakland high school and of L.S.U. He served for a year at the CCC camp at Kentwood, six months of that time was commanding officer there. He had been in the service of the regular army for the past eighteen months stationed at Fort Jackson, S.C. He is survived by his father, R. N. Carruth of Liverpool, two brothers William Carruth of Amite, Percy Carruth of Liver- pool, and one sister, Mrs. Charles Butler of Kentwood, one foster sis- ter Miss Marie Ida Phillips of Liverpool. - - - - - HE'S JUST AWAY Friday, December 12, 1941 The message read: "Lt. Adrian P. Carruth met with an accident this morning while on duty and died instantly." The shock of those words was almost unbearable. The whole world seemed suddenly en- gulfed in a gloom, blacker than night. We were groping out into this darkness, trying to find you, Adrian, trying to realize why Death had been so unkind in tak- ing you away from us. And then it was that we we knew you were not dead but had been transferred to that Beautiful Land where the sol- dier who gives his life for his country can rest in peace forever- more. Hosts of friends came to our home, brought beautiful flowers and stood by the grey casket, drap- ed with the flag that you loved and served so faithfully. Silently they paid tribute to the soldier whose warfare was over. Voices were subdued, but the whispers concerned you. Listening to the re- miniscing of your life, we thought how short a span is twenty-six years and twenty-six days, but, as your friends assured us, you ac- complishments could have been spread over a longer life and it would still have been a full one. After spending the night at home, your loved ones followed the hearse, bearing the flag-draped casket to Day's Church, where hundreds were awaiting us. Your chums - Lt. Carville, Niel Lee, Floyd Carruth, Horace Lee, Wil- liam Phillips, Claude Holstead, Warren and Burke Allen accom- panied the catafalque. The choir sand, America, My Faith Look up to Thee, Beautiful Isle, and In the Garden - the song you used to sing so much. The Reverend Fulton, the Reverend Gordon and the Reverend Mc- Knight offered beautiful prayers and words of comfort to your grief stricken loved ones. Then the procession moved sadly on to the cemetery. The flag was removed by Lt. Carville, and by him presented to our father. Taps were sounded in the distance; the dying echoes were answered. The casket was lowered into the narrow cell beside the mother, who was so proud of you, her baby son. Soon the flowers were banked over the newly made mound, and every- one turned his steps homeward, realizing that there had been a happy reunion in Heaven. ----A Loved One * * * * *