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Family in the
Midst of Military

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Carnley served on three ships USS
California, USS Shasta and USS
Enterprise, from 1967 to 1977, and
spent the next 14 years in the Army
National Guard.
During his years with the Navy,
Carnley also served in the Vietnam
War, a memory he considers to be
proud and painful.
Im a Vietnam vet and Im proud of it,
but the thing about Vietnam was that
people from our own country didnt
respect us and it was a sad thing for
military people, he said. If you didnt
have any family when you got back,
then the heck with you. Because no
one else was going to give you any
support.
His time in the Navy helped launch the
military careers for his two own sons,
Les and Royce.
To hear my dad talking about the
USS Enterprise... Star Trek was a
very popular show when we were
growing up, and I used to imagine that
my dad was on that spaceship. It was
the coolest thing in the world, Les
Carnley said. I got my first real firsthand experience one weekend when
I got to go and ride on the tanks and
hang out with some of the guys. I was
15 or 16 at the time, and I was bought
hook, line and sinker.
On Jan. 11, 1991, Les Carnley was
dropped off at Army basic training by
his father.

Danny Carnley grew up with military

around him. His biological father,
Melvin Carnley, served in the U.S.
Army and Marine reserves, stationed
in Germany and Korea, while his
stepdad served during World War II
as a third class petty officer.
When I was 6 or 7, my uncle went
into the Navy and I fell in love with
their uniforms, Carnley said.

With the draft looming, he enlisted in

the Navy in 1967, at the age of 17.
A year later, Carnleys parents got
his draft notice while he was in basic
training.
I went to school in Weatherford, and
transferred to Peaster in the ninth
grade, but I never really liked school
anyway, he said.

I was very proud at that moment, but

I was a little sad because I had been
down that road, Danny Carnley said.
The exchange also signified a
changing of the guard, as Les Carnley
enlisted a few months before his dad
put in his retirement papers.
Les Carnley put 15 years in, with
stints in the Charlie Company as an
M1 armor crewman. He also spent
one year in Iraq, and the majority of
his career time in the reserves.

The cool thing about my dad and Is

relationship is that he understands
his era and I understand mine, and
it helps us meet in the middle about
some stuff, he said. Were able to
share some stories, but we also get to
learn from each other.
Royce Carnley joined the U.S. Army
at the age of 18, influenced by his
father and other family members and
friends.
It just felt right and needed to happen,
he said.
Danny Carnleys youngest son, Royce,
is currently serving in Afghanistan with
the U.S. Army.
Its no different than it was with Les,
Carnley said of his second sons
deployment. I love them both, but I
want him to come home.
Both sons have children of their
own, and Les Carnley addressed the
possibility of continuing the Carnley
military era.
If this is something my kids decide
to do, Im going to tell them to do
something that will give you an
education on the outside, he said. Ill
always be proud to be in the Army.
Danny Carnley said family, especially
his children, were behind the decision
of his military retirement.
My daughter Marsy was born and
that was the main reason I got out of
the Navy, he said. I decided at that
point that I wanted to be a father more
than I wanted to stay in the Navy and
it was one of the best choices Ive
ever made.

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A Pioneer of
Women in
the Military

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Jean Conner Buford is somewhat of a
pioneer when it comes to women serving
in the military.
Growing up in the small town of Haskell,
near Abilene, it was just her and her sister,
and a lack of male siblings prompted her
to join the military.
I didnt have any brothers so I figured it
was up to me to enlist, she said.
At the time, women had to be 21 to enlist
without consent from a parent or guardian.
Not yet of age when the United States
joined World War II, Buford enrolled at
Texas Tech. Upon graduation in 1944,
at the age of 21, she joined the Navy
WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer
Emergency Services).
Buford attended boot camp in the Bronx
at Hunter College.
Following that, she attended mail clerk
school, making the move to Manhattan.
I worked at a fleet post office in the
Victory-mail section, she said.
At a friends suggestion, Buford
transferred to New Orleans, where she
and her friend were seperated.
I was sent to the Armed Guard Naval

Repair base, where they had a post office

as big as one in a small town, she said.
All together, I was [in the service] for
about 19 months.
During her time there, Buford also
participated in the Singing Platoon, a
group of women entertainers.
Everywhere we marched, we sang, she
said. I was a singer all of my life until my
son died.
Through her travels, she has several fond
memories, including visits to Madison
Square Garden in New York City and
Canal Street in New Orleans.
My daddy was a World War I veteran,
Buford said. Mine was quite the
experience, and Im glad that I did it.
Bufords husband Forest Bradley Buford,
who likewise grew up in Haskell, was also
a military veteran.
He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps
8th Air Force 306th Bomb Group during
WWII and was discharged in 1946.
We had known each other since we were
in the fifth grade, she said. I liked him
all right, but at that time, you didnt have
enough money to go steady and date.
We had our simple fun.

When Jean Buford went off to Lubbock

for college, Brad went to San Antonio.
The couple wouldnt see each other for
another seven years.
When we got back, he asked me on a
date, she said. It took me three years to
catch him and I finally convinced him to
go to college.
Brad Buford attended Texas A&M
and acquired an engineering degree.
During his career, he was instrumental
in engineering streets, pools and other
facilities for Horseshoe Bend.
He died in 2008 due to health problems.
The couple had been married for 40 years.
After being a stay-at-home mom, Jean
Buford put her elementary education
degree to work, filling in as a subsitute
music teacher on occassion and working
at the Weatherford Public Library.
These days, she stays busy with First
Baptist Church and members of the
community.
I visit three rest homes every Monday,
I sing at the Senior Center and I make
calls to people that are house-bound every
Wednesday, she said.

Veterans Tab

Judge Curtis Jenkins

County Court at Law 2

After graduating from The University of

Texas School of Law in 1994, Judge Jenkins
started his career as a prosecutor in the
Parker County Attorneys Office, trying
cases in the historic courthouse,
where he now presides over County Court
at Law No. 2

Thank you for serving

our country and protecting
our freedom!
Pd. Pol. Ad by Judge Curtis Jenkins Campaign.

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Launching a Naval
Career at the
Age of 41

Weatherfords Joyce Jackson calls her time

in the Navy one of her greatest blessings.
Though she enlisted a little later than some,
at the age of 41, it didnt diminish her
experience.
I still laugh when I think about how it all
came about, Jackson said of her initial
interest in joining.
Jackson was working at Northeast National
Bank in North Richland Hills. Her son, in
the Army, was stationed in Alaska, while
her oldest daughter worked in Colorado and
her younger daughter was a senior in high
school.
After a particularly stressful day at work in
March of 1980, Jackson had had enough.
I threw some papers on my desk and
jokingly said, Im going to run away and
join the Army. It has to be more fun than
this, she said.
To her surprise, Jacksons co-worker told
her about a friend who had joined the Navy

7
and loved it.
During a break at work, Jackson called
the friend, who informed her about the
Advanced Pay Grade system, which
accepts older people based on their civilian
occupations.
I had always wanted to fly, so I first called
the Air Force but they didnt have the
same program and I was considered too
old to fly, Jackson said. I called a Navy
recruiter and he agreed to send me some
information.
Jackson went home to talk to her husband
and son, who was a little surprised when
Jackson asked him about joining the Navy.
He said I dont care if thats what you
want to do, she said. Of course, he
immediately began calling me Squid.
One month before her 42nd birthday and
the cut-off age to join the armed forces,
Jackson went to Grand Prairie to take the
enlistment exam. With no opening in the
banking-related field, Jackson spoke with a
Reserve Intelligence Program officer after
finding out she had scored high enough to
be involved in Intelligence.
Jacksons first training was a two-week stint
at APG school at NAS Dallas. It took her
three years of training before she qualified
as an intelligence specialist.
Joining the military is like learning a
different language, she said. I often felt
as if there was a tape running in my head,
always a little behind in conversation
because I had to think through what the
acronyms meant.
During Jacksons second year in the Navy,
she was sent to training in San Diego,
Calif., as an enlisted intelligence assistant,
where she saw her first ship.
I had grown up in Oklahoma, about as far
away from an ocean and ships as you can
get, she said. The EIA course was one of
the hardest I ever took.
In 1985, Jackson embarked on her first
voyage out of the country, getting two

weeks of duty in Munich, Germany.

I know it must be true that God watches
over fools and children, because he
certainly watched over me, she said. It
was quite an adventure, but I loved every
minute of it and managed to go back to
Germany three more times during my Navy
career.
That career also took her to Korea twice.
During the Desert Shield/Desert Storm
operation, Jacksons unit was activated, and
she spent close to eight months on active
duty in Hawaii.
Being a little older than some of her
fellow Navy people, Jackson said it was a
challenge rooming with teenagers.
My service pales in comparison to other
veterans, but living in a barracks with about
350 teenagers was not easy for an older
person, she said. The teenagers played
their boom boxes so loud it would nearly
bounce you out of bed.
At one point, Jackson received a care
package from her husband containing
soothing Hawaiian music on tape.
I set the tape player at the head of my bed
and played those tapes to drown out the
other noise and lull me to sleep. To this
day, I still get sleepy when I hear Hawaiian
music.

Because of her age, Jackson had several

memorable experiences while serving in
the Navy, including being recognized as the
oldest sailor at the Fleet Intelligence Center
in Hawaii, where she had the opportunity to
cut the Navys birthday cake along with the
centers youngest sailor.
Jackson made Chief in 1991, the oldest
sailor every initiated into the rank of Chief
at the Naval Air Station in Key West, Fla.
In 1995, she was chosen as a member of
the Tactical Analysis Team for Barbados.
Shortly after that, a family issue would
bring Jackson back home.
I spent five months active duty in Key
West and five months in Barbados before
learning that my husband was facing bypass
surgery, so I requested a release from active
duty and came back to Fort Worth in April
of 1996, she said.
Jackson spent her last two years in the Navy
attached to the Office of Naval Intelligence
in Washington, D.C.
On one two-week training course there, we
toured every intelligence office in the area,
and it was wonderful, she said.
Jackson would go on to apply for, and
receive reserve transition benefits, retiring
after 18 years of service.

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Veteran
Recalls
Battle

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violent and cold.
It all began at 0500 hours. I recalled
being on watch 68 years ago, Dec. 16,
1944, in the Ardennes, one of 70,000
men in four and a half divisions,
covering a 70-mile front. I looked out
across the Siegfried line from my log
fortified, snow-covered foxhole. The
quiet was shattered by German artillery
and mortars, as the enemy opened up on
the 99th Division.
The Battle of the Bulge had begun.
The weather was cloudy and cold and
artillery landed in our area all day and
night. Company F was awake and on
the alert when it started, but thank God
we have covered our foxholes with logs.
I believed that the logs were the only
thing that saved me and my buddies
from being ripped to shreds by shrapnel
and wood shards from trees blasted
to smithereens. Some men who were
caught out of their foxholes were
wounded or killed.

Chuck Katlic is known all over Parker

County for his contributions to the
community, but most notably, for his
service as a military veteran.
Now, almost 70 years later, Katlic
recalls his time during the Battle of the
Bulge, which took place from 1944 to
1945 and saw 19,000 American soldiers
killed and more than 47,000 wounded,
with 23,000 either captured or missing.
Below is Katlics hand-written
memories of the time he describes as

Artillery continued to hit our positions

on Dec. 17 as German and American
planes went at one another overhead.
Eventually the German artillery ceased.
The 2nd Battalion was surrounded
by Germans and separated from
their regiment. We received orders
to withdraw and we did, leaving a
covering force to an assembly point
near Hunmgen, Belgium. No artillery
fell Dec. 18 and the evidence of the past
two days barrage was concealed under
a blanket of new snow. The temperature
dropped to near 5 degrees and
circumstances grew dire as we were low
on ammo and food. The Germans were
closing in for the kill. We moved along
a draw but the mortar rounds started
landing in the draw so the company
moved into the woods where we were
temporarily held up for a few hours.
The company was given orders to fix
bayonets. Company F and the rest of the
battalion moved toward Merrigan. At
about 1500 hours, a German burp gun

opened up on our column and pinned us

down. Heavy weapons were called for.
The Americans attacked in German
positions and met stiff resistance.
Our company commander was given
command of the battalion. Lt. Goodner
led the battalion through the draw to
the town of Elsenborn, believed to be
an Allied control. But the battalion fell
under intense artillery and small arms
fire. We were wet and cold and hungry
and the 2nd Battalion was given up as
lost in action.
Rumors of the battalions demise are
premature. We reached the outskirts of
Elsenborn and the men of Company F
slept in a barn until about 1000 hours.
Hot chow was served around noon; hot
pancakes and syrup a feast. It was
our first hot meal in days.
The company moved to Elsenborn
Ridge to take the high ground. We dug
foxholes and set our defenses. Our
meals would be cold C rations until our
kitchen was set up in Elsenborn. We
improved our positions and sent out
patrols. On Christmas Day, we were
served a cold turkey dinner.
We stayed there for awhile and I
celebrated my 21st birthday Jan. 8, 1945
in a foxhole on the Elsenborn Ridge.
It was the coldest day of my life.
The 99th Division held the northern
shoulder, preventing the Germans from
expanding the bulge. We spent the
month of January defending the north
shoulder and despite many attempts,
the Germans could not break through
and eventually withdrew to a defensive
position.
Wet, cold weather met us as we climbed
from our foxholes at 1 a.m. Jan. 31,
1945, to answer the long-awaited call
to attack. Our company left the area at
0300 hours and started moving toward
our objective. Snow was waist deep and
rain had made a slushy surface on top

of that, delaying our departure. By 0600

hours, we had advanced only about 700
yards.
No enemy resistance was initially met.
The Company F commander led the
way and with covering fire from light
machine guns and 60 mm mortars, we
moved forward into enemy installations.
We were moving due north through the
enemys outpost when light resistance
met us. Swinging the company due
east, we drove the Germans from our
objective and into the dense woods.
Thats where we were held up by
intense automatic and sniper fire,
which inflicted heavy casualties on our
infantry and medics. The company was
pinned down in four feet of snow for the
remainder of the night.
Artillery was called in to eliminate the
enemy fire and shells landed within
50 yards of our position. We spent a
miserable night laying in the snow, wet,
cold, hungry, sleepy and tired. Eight
of our men were killed and many who
were wounded did not make it through
the night. Myself and my brothers in
arms regrouped and advanced back to
the lines where we had been Dec. 16.
The next day, we began to push the
Germans back to the Rhine River and
into Germany. It was the end of the
Battle of the Bulge. In those six weeks,
Americans suffered 90,000 casualties,
including 19,000 killed in action. It was
the largest land battle ever fought by the
U.S. Army.
Chuck Katlic passed away this summer
at the age of 91. He will be greatly
missed by many.

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A Veterans
Journey
Cut Short

Veterans Tab
the Navy.
My dad was in the Navy and served in
World War II, and they had the prettiest
uniforms, he said. Those Navy dress blues
looked good.
The Poolville resident, born in Fort Worth,
attended boot camp in San Diego. But a
few months later, his military career would
be over, due to a physical condition he had
since birth.
We had these duty belts that we wore,
which were very tight, and when I put mine
on, it would burn, he said. I had horrible
cramps as a kid if I ran a long ways, but I
never thought it was anything real serious.

Larry Rhoads had his military path already

marked as a teenager.
In 1964 at the age of 17, Rhoads, who had
moved to Parker County in the second grade,
persuaded his parents to sign him off to join

Troubled by nerves and other irritants,

Rhoads found out through a random
physical that he had an intestinal condition
that restricted some of his movement and
could cause debilitating pain at any point.
Two months after boot camp, they sent me
to the mainland and said I would need to
have surgery or return home, he said.

Terrified of the surgery and not knowing if

the results would completely heal him for
active duty, Rhoads received an honorable
discharge.
I was 17 years old and I was scared to
death of major surgery, he said. They gave
me an honorable discharge and said I was
physically unable to do it.
With a dad, son and grandson all serving
in the military, Rhoads journey and what
could have been still plagues him to this day.
It really bothers me, even now, because I
wasnt able to do what I wanted to do, he
said. My heart was in a good spot, but my
body just couldnt follow.
After his discharge, Rhoads went to work
for Southern Airways, in Mineral Wells, as
a certified aircraft mechanic. He suffered
a ruptured disc in his back, and has been
legally disabled since 1993.
Though his work and military careers may
be over, Rhoads still contributes his time to
the community and to his country, serving as
a past commander of the American Legion,
where he has been a member for 16 years, and

as the current guardian and past commander

of the Mens Auxiliary of the VFW, when he
had membership for six years.
An avid motorcycle rider, Rhoads uses his
hobby as a way to contribute to others as
well, participating annually in motorcycle
toy runs to support children around the
holidays, as well as helping out with
Veterans Day Out in Granbury.
He has also helped the Poolville community,
campaigning for a new POW-MIA flag to be
flown in the center of town.
Im still a veteran, and Im proud of what
little time I spent in the military, but it
still bothers me, Rhoads said. I love my
country and I would do anything in the
world for it.

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