4th Grade Authors

Parkside welcomed Mr. William Carrithers to "Food for Thought,"

along with members of the E-Media class from Lawrenceville High School.

He recounted his years of service in the Pacific, during World War 2.

We welcome you to view his presentation as well

as read the reactions of our 4th grade pupils:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xOHFpOKS-Y

I'll Remember His Missions
~By Brock

It was cool how he started out as a Marine and then went
onto serving in the Navy.  Mr. Carrithers was involved in

special missions and blowing up those brackets made of
metal railroad ties!  When I grow up, I will join the military

like him and learn how to use explosives.   He was so  

lucky to survive an accident but it was sad that he had

friends that died in WW2.  It must have been awful to

escape an explosion that knocked him unconscious!  One

other time Mr. Carrithers was stabbed during one of his

missions.  We would compare his service in the war to

the job of a Navy Seal, today. It was great meeting him!

Would You Want to Go?
~By Addy

Mr. Carrithers was amazing!  One thing I thought was cool was

his swims in the Pacific Ocean.  He mentioned that if you cut

yourself and start bleeding, sharks will come.  He said, “You

would have to punch them in the snout to make them leave

you alone.”  He showed pictures of really, really big boats

and said he got to jump off of some big, big, big ships in

the war.  Then the Japanese bombed the fleet in Hawaii.  

We built a memorial on top of one of the ships.  Mr.
Carrithers showed us pictures of the ship, taken from
high above the memorial.  

He talked about being in the Underwater Demolition Unit.

He kept saying, “If you can go to Pearl Harbor, you should

go.  It is truly beautiful!”  I hope I can go there, someday.

The giant ship was known as The Arizona.  We found out

Mr. Carrithers has been swimming since he was eight
Years old.  He did most all of his demolition work in
WW2, in the night time.  The Pacific is filled with salt

water and it’s that salt makes the water look light.  I
Thought the moon would make the water look light!!
I think Mr. Carrithers would have been a Navy Sea since
serving in WW2.  Think of this, would you want to go?

The Visit
~By Emma

Mr. Carrithers was a 16 year old when World War 2 began.

While growing up, he went to the Vincennes YMCA

a lot.  When the war began his friends were older than

him and wanted to hurry and sign-up to enter the service.
He wanted to be in the Marines and asked his mother

to allow him to join, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

So at 16, brave Mr. Carrithers went to war.  He told us
He took part in training, and it happened in three phases.

As a member of the Navy, he did not have a special swimming trunk or uniform.  One of his jobs was to put explosives under

bridges, to try and stop the Japanese soldiers from “getting on
the island.”  He said he carried a bag with molding putty, like gray Playdough.  He would put the putty and explosive

on the bridge and then swim away, about a mile or two while

carrying wire that was attached to the bomb.  He said if you see

sharks while in the water, you just “punch them in the nose and

they leave you alone.”  Mr. Carrithers said, “I never hurt a single

animal.”  He told us that he never had any life threatening injuries.  Once he blacked out and they gave him CPR, and when he woke up he asked, “Did we win the war?”  He had lots of duties and an amazing life as a demolition expert in W.W. 2!

All About Mr. Carrithers
~By Neilan

I learned such interesting things during our afternoon with Mr. Carrithers.  He has been back to “Pearl” to see the memorial of the sunken ship, the Arizona.  When he was there last many veterans saluted him, asking if they could join Mr. Carrithers for lunch.  Another interesting thing I found out is that he was able to hold his breath underwater for two and ½ minutes.  One thing that was brave:  he signed up to go to World War 2 when he was only 16.  He said “I spent most of the war in the water!”  

When he was fighting for the U.S. he was making explosives called C4 with his hands, out of a type of clay.  He signed up to be a Marine after he enlisted.  After a few months, he was in the Navy when they found out how well he could swim.  

The reason why Mr. Carrithers went off to war was because

most of his friends were joining the service, after Pearl Harbor was bombed.  He asked his mother if she would let him go to war and join the Marines.  She signed the papers to let him leave for the service, because he was only 16 years old at the time.

Mr. Carrithers did not use any guns or swords in the war, only C3 and C4 explosives and he had to make them with his hands.  
He said, “If I messed up, it would blow me up.”  One scary part of the talk was when he remembered the time he fainted.  He didn’t even know what happened, until Mr. Carrithers woke up in the hospital.  He has swam most of his life.  He told us that when he was eight years old his mother signed him to be a member of the Y in Vincennes, Indiana.  He did a lot of swimming then and still goes to the pool there, three times a week.  During the war while making explosives, Mr. Carrithers didn’t mess once, because if he did mess up then he would not have visited us and I would probably not be writing this story.

The Life of a Veteran
~By Phoenix

The guy I met weeks ago was just about ready to turn 90 years old.  He knows a lot of history from World War 2.  We learned about Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii.  He told us that the Japanese bombed the Navy ships there, in 1941.  After that, Mr. Carrithers joined the Marines.  His job was to stop the enemy by putting bombs under bridges.  He did not have a gun during the war but he did carry a knife.  He used one to cut the wires they used in placing explosives when on a mission.  Mr. Carrithers said,
“I think I am living a good life.”  He told us that he thinks he is healthy and I think he is a nice guy.  I am amazed by how much he told us about the men who were with him in the Navy.

Learning and Thinking
~By Kadin

On January 23, 2018 I saw Bill Carrithers.  He is a World War 2 survivor and he is turning 90 years old soon!  We learned that if a shark tried to bite them, soldiers would bop the shark’s nose.  He was a part of a swimming race in China, and got fourth place.  During the war when Mr. Carrithers was in Japan, he was underwater a lot.  He had swimming gear but back then, they didn’t have oxygen tanks.  So he showed us and talked about how to hold your breath for a long, long time.  He said, “You have to take in two big mouthful of air.  We asked him about what kinds of food the soldiers ate during the war.  He said, “Instead of having something like hamburgers for supper, we ate bacon, sugar, tea, butter, and some kind of meat.  Also, there were no bananas back then during World War 2.  So young children didn’t see their first banana until after the war was over.  

Mr. Carrithers called the base in Hawaii “Pearl,” instead of Pearl Harbor.  I asked Bill what they slept on.  He said, “We didn’t have any fancy mattresses.”  They only slept on cots. He told us the Japanese bombed the base on December 7th, 1941.  He went underwater to get revenge, after they bombed us.

Mr. Carrithers has been back to Pearl Harbor and he saw the Shrine Room.  The Shrine Room is sad sometimes.  Someone asked Bill if he got hurt.  He asked, “By animals?”  The person said, “No, hurt by a gun or something else.”  Bill looked surprised when she said that.  He said, “I did get hurt but not on purpose because back then we didn’t have guns.  We only carried big knives, so I accidently cut myself while cutting a wire connected to an explosive.”  After the accident, he had to rest for three days.  

Mrs. West and I wanted to ask him if they had K9’s.  I was laughing a little when he said, “No because they can’t swim.”  I thought and thought about what he said.  I knew dogs could swim.  I asked my mom why the K9’s couldn’t stay on the beach and the “bark” when someone was coming!  

Bill had a friend that was a girl, when he went off to the war.  He was 16 years old and was a good swimmer.  Mr. Carrithers still swims to this day.  He had older friends, boys who were 19 and they went off to the war only a few days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  Bill asked his mom to sign papers that let him go to war.  She signed and he went.