DOB/DOD: September 20, 1947 (Bridgeport, CT) – September 25, 1982; 35 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: 2715 Old Town Road, Bridgeport
ENLISTMENT: Commissioned June 3, 1970
LAST MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 9668, Area Intelligence Officer; 48G,
Mideast/North Africa (Foreign Area Officer)
PRIOR MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTIES: 1204 – Armored Reconnaissance Unit Commander; 9604 – Cryptoanalytic Officer, Translations
UNIT: United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, Beirut
PREVIOUS ASSIGNMENTS: B Troop, 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (3rd ACR); French instructor, U.S. Military Academy at West Point
FAMILY: Born to Arthur T. (1909-1989) and Alice V. Hanson Carlson (1918-1979). One brother, Donald G. (1948-).
OTHER: Randall Carlson also earned a Master’s in International Studies from The Johns Hopkins University. He returned to the United States Military Academy to teach French at the Academy. He had studied for two years in Paris and researched the French Resistance. He graduated with a second Master’s degree from Middlebury University and became an Assistant Professor in his second year.
CIRCUMSTANCES: On September 25, 1982, he was preparing to depart on leave to Egypt when his supervisor asked him to take a surveillance mission for another officer. He volunteered and was killed with three other United Nations officers when their vehicle ran over a mine. [Source: United States Military Academy Association of Graduates memorial.] Also killed in the incident: USAF Major Harley S. Warren of Baldese, North Carolina, an Irish Major, and a Finnish Captain.
Trumbull High School (Connecticut) Class of 1965
West Point Class of 1970, Cadet Company I4
From The Baltimore Sun on September 27, 1982
By Mark Matthews | Washington Bureau of the Sun
WASHINGTON — The note was written on a torn-off scrap of paper shortly before U.S. Marines first arrived in Lebanon last month: “It’s 2 o’clock in the morning. They just called. I don’t have time to write back now, I just got orders to go to Beirut.”
This message was the last that Army Capt Bruce Edwards received from Major Randall A. Carlson, his friend and former West Point teaching colleague.
Major Carlson, who turned 35 last Monday, was one of two U.S. military officers serving with the U.N. observer team in Lebanon who were killed Saturday when their vehicle hit a mine on the Beirut-Damascus highway about nine miles east of Beirut. The other American killed was Air Force Maj. Harley S. Warren, of Baldese, North Carolina.
Major Carlson, a career army officer, had become apprehensive about the dangers the 294-member U.N. observer team faced, according to his brother, Donald Carlson, of Derwood, Maryland.
He also was “appalled” by the destruction he witnessed, and the anxiety and tension that go with the role of peacekeeper in Lebanon were beginning to tell on his easy-going temperament.
He came into daily contact with Israeli and various Lebanese forces, all of whom seemed willing merely to tolerate the observers, his brother said.
“I’m picking up some of the persecution complex the Israelis have,” he wrote on September 8.
While he believed in the U.N. team’s mission, he looked forward to resuming a teaching career.
“He was a dedicated Army officer whose first love was teaching,” his brother said.
Raised in Trumbull, Connecticut, Major Carlson graduated from West Point in 1970 and served with the Army in Germany for about three years. In 1974, he was attached to a military intelligence unit at the Aberdeen Proving Ground and, at the same time, earned a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University. In 1977, he went to France to earn a master’s degree in French through a program conducted by Middlebury College in Vermont.
He began teaching at West Point in 1979. According to Captain Edwards, he threw himself into the job with a passion, bringing to his work not only a love of France itself but also films and taped interviews from his continuing research into the French Resistance during World War II. He hoped ultimately to complete a book on the movement.
Fluent in French, he was also conversant in German and in Swedish, which he had learned so as to be able to communicate with relatives in Sweden.
Assigned to the U.N. force in May, he reported to its headquarters in Jerusalem. Later, he was part of an observer team sent into southern Lebanon.
Although he wrote of the massive destruction brought by the Lebanon conflict, he avoided assigning blame. “He was very matter of fact,” his brother said.
A bachelor, he doted on his 2½-year-old nephew, Eric, who was also his godson. Many of his letters were directly to [Eric], to be read to him,” his brother said. Major Carlson is also survived by his father, Arthur Carlson, of Silver Spring.
From The Daily Times (Salisbury, Maryland) on September 27, 1982
FAMILY FEARED FOR GI’S LIFE
DERWOOD, MD (AP) — Relatives of a 35-year-old Maryland soldier killed in a weekend explosion in Beirut say they feared for his life when he left for the Middle East to serve in the United Nations peacekeeping force.
Army Major Randall Carlson of Derwood died Saturday, along with another U.S. serviceman, when their jeep hit a mine east of Beirut.
Donald Carlson, a brother of the victim, said Sunday he remembered when Carlson left suburban Washington’s Dulles Airport in June to go to the Middle East.
“I felt like I would never see him again. It was a feeling of more apprehension than any of his assignments before,” he said.
Donald Carlson and his wife, Julia, both congressional aides, said they didn’t think Carlson realized the danger of his mission until he got to the war-torn area.
According to Julia Carlson, her brother-in-law indicated in recent letters that he wanted to come home.
Carlson, a graduate of West Point, wrote frequently to his 73-year-old father, Arthur, and his brother and sister-in-law and their son Eric.
In one of those letters, the family said, Carlson related an incident at a Christian militia checkpoint in southern Lebanon.
Carlson described the checkpoint as being manned by 17- and 18-year-olds with rifles. Donald Carlson said the situation made his brother nervous because “he looked into their eyes and saw a complete lack of reasoning and a complete lack of understanding.”
The Pentagon said in Washington that four Officers serving with the United Nations observer team in Beirut were killed when the jeep hit a mine.
The other American, besides Carlson, was identified as Air Force Major Harley S Warren. 34, of Baldese, North Carolina.
Officials said the incident near the Beirut-Damascus highway, about nine miles east of Beirut, would not affect U.S. plans to deploy Marines in the Lebanese capital.
From The Baltimore Sun on September 27, 1982
By Mark Matthews | Washington Bureau of The Sun
U.S. OFFICER KILLED IN BEIRUT HAD BEEN ‘APPALLED’ BY DESTRUCTION
WASHINGTON — The note was written on a torn-off scrap of paper shortly before U.S. Marines first arrived in Lebanon last month.
“It’s 2 o’clock in the morning. They just called. I don’t have time to write back now. I just got orders to go to Beirut.”
This message was the last that Army Capt-Bruce Edwards received from Major Randall A. Carlson, his friend and former West Point teaching colleague.
Major Carlson, who turned 35 last Monday, was one of two U.S. military officers serving with the U.N. observer team in Lebanon who were killed Saturday when their vehicle hit a mine on the Beirut-Damascus highway about nine miles east of Beirut. The other American killed was Air Force Major Harley S Warten, of Baldese, North Carolina.
Major Carlson, a career army officer, had become apprehensive about the dangers the 294-member U.N. observer team faced, according to his brother, Donald Carlson, of Derwood, Maryland.
He also was “appalled” by the destruction he witnessed, and the anxiety and tension that go with the role of peacekeeper in Lebanon were beginning to tell on his easy-going temperament.
He came into daily contact with Israeli and various Lebanese forces, all of whom seemed willing merely to tolerate the observers, his brother said.
“I’m picking up some of the persecution complex the Israelis have,” he wrote on September 8.
While he believed in the U.N. team’s mission, he looked forward to resuming a teaching career.
“He was a dedicated Army officer whose first love was teaching,” his brother said.
Raised in Trumbull, Connecticut, Major Carlson graduated from West Point in 1970 and served with the Army in Germany for about three years. In 1974, he was attached to a military intelligence unit at the Aberdeen Proving Ground and, at the same time, earned a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University. In 1977, he went to France to earn a master’s degree in French through a program conducted by Middlebury College in Vermont.
He began teaching at West Point in 1979. According to Captain Edwards, he threw himself into the job with a passion, bringing to his work not only a love of France itself but also films and taped interviews from his continuing research into the French Resistance during World War II. He hoped ultimately to complete a book on the movement.
Fluent in French, he was also conversant in German and in Swedish, which he had learned so as to be able to communicate with relatives in Sweden.
Assigned to the U.N. force in May, he reported to its headquarters in Jerusalem. Later, he was part of an observer team sent into southern Lebanon.
Although he wrote of the massive destruction brought by the Lebanon conflict, he avoided assigning blame. “He was very matter of fact,” his brother said.
A bachelor, he doted on his 2½-year-old nephew, Eric, who was also his godson. “Many of his letters were directly to [Eric], to be read to him,” his brother said. Major Carlson is also survived by his father, Arthur Carlson, of Silver Spring, Maryland.
Testimonials from west-point.org
Posted by Thomas McQuary on September 26, 2011:
I could see Randy was a true leader the first day I met him – me, the plebe; he, the squad leader. He personified the motto Duty, Honor, Country. A one-of-a-kind Christian soldier, he is missed.
Posted by Paul F. Benoit on October 13, 2011:
Randy was my first Table Commandant during Reorgy Week for the brand new Company I-4. Sitting at attention at the end of the table among 9 strangers, I was unprepared to respond to his inquiry on how the Delaware football team was expected to perform that season. As I floundered about, the giggling classmate Dick Klett, seated to my immediate right, did not make things better for me. I soon became an informed, if not dedicated, follower of the Delaware squad’s fortunes. Over the next nine months, I learned what a goodhearted soul Randy was, and I remember with pleasure his spirited and skillful conducting of the cadet band in the mess hall. How fitting that he went on to serve in the United Nations peacekeeping forces. He has been an inspiration to me throughout my adult life.
Posted by Jim Sullivan on June 15, 2011:
Randy – I don’t think there was a better human being in the regiment. I never saw him utter an unjust word or depart in any way from the path of goodness and noble behavior, in all weathers. He died a hero’s death, and may God hold Randy in His Big Hand.
Sully
From Facebook.com and Michael Jones (used with Permission)
Another year gone. You have been heavy in my heart and thoughts today, Spoon. To my Brother, Major Randall A. Carlson, KIA in Lebanon on this date in 1982. For me today the good memories in our lives flood back, for the escargot you introduced us to, for the superb wines and beers we shared on several continents in the glow of our youth and idealism, for keeping my spirits up with your letters to me in VN especially after I lost my faith in God, for the only Christmas you ever spent away from your family in Germany 1972 when we surprised Irma with a brand new BRG MGB-GT with a huge red bow, and your example of Duty always so very well done. May 1982, the last time we were together on earth, Irma cooked your favorite Mexican dinner, and you broke bread with our family one last time. You said your goodbyes to Irma and our kids, then you and I walked down to the West Point cemetery. It was dusk, and you took me to the Anderson Fountain, walked me to an old copper beech tree, and told me, “Here’s where I want to be buried.” We reminisced about the quiet times we spent reading scriptures together as cadets in the cemetery and Old Cadet Chapel. I made light of your comment and said we’d both be department heads at our beloved Alma Mater and compete to become the oldest living West Point graduate decades hence. We held hands, bowed our heads, and one final time repeated the prayer we always concluded our visits to the cemetery with: The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. In darkness and silence, we walked back up the hill to your little Mercury Capri, shared a hug until the next year, and one final Beat Navy!, and then you were gone. Continue to grip hands with me from the shadows, Randy, until we share a pint at Fiddlers Green. I love you, Spoon. You are remembered always, and I will honor your sacrifice until you guide me home to the High Ground, my Brother. SWI and DHC. Go Army, Beat Navy always lead, even today by your beloved Cadet Spirit Band!”
From West-Point.org
Classmates, Brothers:
By now, many of you have seen Terry Young’s Facebook post about the 2d event of our Class 50 Year Affiliation Program, the Carlson Crucible Challenge, named for our fallen Classmate, Randy Carlson, which was held up at the Prep School last week. A total of seven Classmates participated:
Bill Arcuri, John Veenstra, Bill Richardson, Bill Trivette, TJ Young, Craig Rutler, and yours truly, Bruce Nolte
The Carlson Challenge began at 0600 on 06 August and continued all day. There were a total of six events, and the day concluded with an awards ceremony at 1830. Some candid shots of the day taken by Bill Arcuri are attached.
The Prep school Class of 2016, which will form the “Vanguard” of our 50 Year Affiliation Class of 2020, reported for duty back on 20 July, so by the date of the Carlson Challenge, most of them had only been in the Army for some 17 days. Unlike back in our day, most of the Cadet Candidates had no prior military service, as Basic Training is no longer required before coming to Prep School. Instead, a Cadet Detail of some 80 First & Second Class Cadets formed a training cadre, and put the new CC’s through an abbreviated basic training. And if what we saw last week is any indicator, these cadets did a great job. Not only in training these young men and women on basic soldier skills, but in creating cohesion, spirit, and acceptance of the Army Values. All of us Old Grads were proud of the Cadets and of the Cadet Candidates.
A couple of vignettes:
– You’ll all be glad to learn that the Marne Obstacle Course at Buckner is unchanged since our day, with the exception that they have managed to get the mud and water out of the Low Crawl event…
– One of the Cadet Candidates is a 305 lb football recruit. He ran the 2-mile run in 15:10 and then ran back to encourage CCs behind him. This guy “gets it,” and my bet is that he will be the football captain. A really impressive kid.
– The Cadet Cadre took the bio of Randy Carlson’s life, written by Mike Jones, and deconstructed it into a number of what I’ll call “Mini Sermons” about Army Values. They also took the photos of Randy from Snoopy’s Memorial to Randy and blew them up to 36×24. They then placed a photo and one of these Values Discussions at each of the six stops of the Carlson Challenge. As each squad of CC’s rotated through each event, a First Classman discussed each of these values with the CC’s and how these values were exemplified by MAJ Carlson. As us Old Grads rotated through the events ourselves, we were truly touched.
– The last event of the day was a climb up the ski slope. The Cadet Detail had taken a number of large 20-pound stones, painted them black, and painted on each a letter of Randy’s name in gold. Each squad had to carry one of these stones up the ski slope and on up to Redoubt 4 without it touching the ground. At the Awards Ceremony at the end of the day, these stones were placed on the stage to spell MAJ RANDALL ARTHUR CARLSON 1970. I’m telling you, this was a moving event.
– At the Awards Ceremony, the ’70 Contingent also presented “Carlson Crucible Challenge” coins to each member of the winning squad. These coins were procured and prepared on very short notice by Bill Arcuri, and we all owe him a debt of gratitude. At the conclusion of the Ceremony, each ’70 participant shook hands with every Cadet and every member of the Cadet Detail.
As we rotated through the course, all of the ’70 participants got to mingle freely with both the CC’s and the Cadet Cadre. They are an impressive bunch. And the Prep School staff is really top-notch. The Vanguards of the USMA Class of 2020 are off to a good start.
SWI and BEAT NAVY!
Bruce Nolte F-4
Buried in West Point Cemetery, 329 Washington Road, West Point, New York; Section XXIII, Row B. Photo by Jeff DeWitt.
END