Military Order of the Purple
Heart

Texas Capital Chapter 1919 Austin, Texas

CARL E.
VOTTI

CARL E.
VOTTI

Patriot, Chapter
1919

(ARMY, WWII, Europe)
Article October 1998

Carl E.
Votti was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 14, 1924. After graduation from
High School, Carl enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania in
Philadelphia where he had a scholarship to play on the football
team. While downtown one day with a friend, Carl saw a paratrooper
and said he could not believe that any branch of the U.S. military
could or would dress a soldier in such a stunning uniform,
especially, the glistening paratrooper boots.  They both
decided  to choose the parachute branch of
service.

Carl entered
active duty on March 16, 1943 and after basic training was soon
going through “jump school” at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he was
assigned as a machine gunner in Company B, 517th Parachute Infantry
Regiment, 17th Airborne Division. Upon completion of unit training,
the 517th P.I.R. was moved to Port of Embarkation at Camp Shanks,
New York.  In early May 1944 they sailed for Europe on the
troop ship SANTA ROSA.  On the trip over, Carl won more
than $1,000 in shipboard crap games before docking in Naples, Italy
on May 31, 1944. He immediately sent the money home to his mother.
Unfortunately, she immediately became distraught because she thought
that it must be the payout for his G.I. life
insurance.

Detached from
the 17th Airborne Division and reorganized as a Regimental Combat
Team; the 517th P.I.R.C.T. arrived in Italy just in time for the
Rome-Arno Campaign. Following that, they made the combat parachute
jump that spearheaded the invasion of Southern France.  From
there they continued combat operations on through the Rhineland,
Ardennes and Central Europe Campaigns.  By war's end the 517th
Parachute Infantry Regimental Combat Team had sustained 75%
casualties. Pfc Carl Votti was one of only seven troopers
remaining present for duty from among Company B's original 120
men.

On the edge of the little town of St
Jacques on the L'Ambieve River, Carl had a sudden nighttime
encounter with a German SS Sergeant. The two locked in hand-to-hand
combat and struggled in the darkness, rolling around in the snow
until the very angry German was subdued. Carl said, “And later he
really got mad when I relieved him of his Iron Cross Medal. I still
have it.”  During the interrogation, the captured Sergeant
revealed information that was of great tactical intelligence value
and as a result, Carl was awarded the Silver Star for his
“scared-to-death heroism”.  When the war ended, the veteran
paratrooper Carl Votti had also been decorated with the
Bronze Star Medal and two awards of the Purple Heart along with
numerous Campaign and Service Medals.  He returned to the
United States in August 1945, was soon discharged at Indiantown Gap,
Pennsylvania, and arrived back home in Philadelphia in October
1945.

Carl
Votti
resumed his war-interrupted College career, and using the G.I. Bill,
graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in
Industrial Engineering. He worked for Dupont for 33 years and
retired in 1982 in Victoria, Texas. He married Ora (Wood) and they
raised five children.  They moved in retirement to Austin in
1992 because three of their children lived in the city.

The RETREADS
Barbershop Quartet of Austin Texas
The Retreads is a
registered seniors quartet with the Society for the Preservation and
Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc.
(SPEBSQSA). The quartet formed in 1997, and ever since it has been
delighting audiences with its humor and singing at parties and
social events in and around Austin Texas. The Retreads members also
sing with the Austin Chord Rangers chorus. They are the Austin
Chapter of SPEBSQSA, Inc. Check their home page at !!!!P.L1
www.main.orWacr.

Back To
Index