CARLTON, FRED

Frederick ‘Fred’ Carlton was born April 7, 1919, the son of  Frederick Hanlan and Satah Jane (Sands) Carlton of Hagerman Township. In an interview with John Macfie, recorded in “Sons of the Pioneers” page 69, William ‘Bill’ Saunders recalled: “In Italy I had to take some prisoners back a half mile or so, and I came along to this guy who was wounded and couldn’t walk. So I found this two-wheeled donkey cart and loaded the guy onto it and made the prisoners pull him back to the hospital. ….After the war I was up working in the bush at Golden Valley, and Dick Brear was loading and I was bull-roping.

This guy was tailing down the skidway for us, and a log came down and hit his leg, and he was hobbling around there. I said “What’s wrong with you, that log never hurt you.” He said “I’ve got a plate in my leg.” Come noon-hour we were sitting around the fire having our frozen lunch, and we started talking. He was wounded in Italy. He told me about this corporal loading him on a wagon, and had prisoners pull him back to a hospital. I says “Where was this?”, and he told me where it was. He was Freddie Carlton (from Dunchurch). I didn’t know him (previously). I don’t know what he was in, he might have been in the same outfit as us for all I know. It’s funny, you’re in a regiment and the only ones you actually know are the men in your platoon.” Unfortunately no other information is known about Fred Carlton’s service at time of writing.