Maj. Gen. John T. Carley

Maj. Gen. John T.
Carley
November 7, 1923-
May 15, 2015
Clemson, SC- Major General John T. Carley, 91, of Clemson died, Friday, May 15, 2015 in Greenville, SC. He was born to loving parents, Jack Talmadge and Ruth Wilder Carley, on Nov. 7, 1923 in Hattiesburg, MS; grew up in Lyman and Richton, MS; served in the US Army from 1945 until 1973 when he retired to Shalimar, FL. He moved to Clemson, SC in 2002.
John attended Marion Military Institute in 1941-42 in preparation for West Point. He graduated from West Point in 1945 and later graduated from the Army's Command and General Staff College, the Armed Forces Staff College and the Army War College.
World War II against Japan ended while John was on his way. He served in the occupation of Japan where he met and married Laura (Lolly) Bing, daughter of the late Col. and Mrs. Ralph Bing, one of the first American military families to arrive in Japan after the war. He returned from Japan in 1948 and in July 1950 shipped out to the Korean War with the 2nd Infantry Division. He served a total of seven years at Fort Benning, GA as student, teacher and curriculum planner, designer of the Instructor Training Course, Director of Instruction and Assistant Commandant in charge of Army Infantry School; it was his favorite Army assignment. He served four years with the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, NC where he was division G-2, G-3, Deputy Battle Group Commander, Chief of Staff and Commander of the 2nd Brigade. During his 82nd Airborne years he helped restore law and order in Detroit in 1967 and again in Washington, DC in 1968 during the riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King. He was a member of the Howze Board that developed helicopter tactics used in Vietnam. He served three years as an intelligence officer in NATO while living with his family in a small French village near Fontainbleau. He was a strategic planner in the Army War Plans Division, the Pentagon, after which he became military assistant to Army Secretaries of Ailes and Resor. In the Vietnam War, he commanded the 2nd Brigade First Infantry Division for one year (1968-69) and returned to Vietnam in 1971-72 as J-3 MACV in Saigon. His last assignment was as Commander US Army Operational Test and Evaluation Agency.
John's first wife of 49 years, Lolly, died in 1996 and he married Emily Ashley Glover, widow of his Marion Institute roomate, USAF Lt. Col. Fred Glover.
His awards include the Silver Star, two Distinguished Service Medals, 20 Air Medals, four Legions of Merit, the Bronze Star, Combat Infantry Badge and Senior Parachutist Wings.
After retirement he became a free lance writer and newspaper columniist. He wrote magazine articles and short stories, but his primary writing effort was a regular newspaper column for the NW Florida Daily News between 1980 and 1993. He considered his best work to be an article for Armed Forces Journal titled "The Road to A Less Dangerous World Goes Through the Jellybean Jar," (October 1983), because the article may have helped end the Cold War.
John Carley is survived by his second wife, Emily Ashley Carley; son, Lt. Col, John C. Carley, USA Ret., of Melbourne, FL; daughter, Ann T. Carley of Tallahassee, FL; granddaughter, Arielle; grandsons, Robin, Jeff and Mike; and sister, Beth Sims of Columbus, MS.
A Memorial service will be 1 PM, Wednesday, May 20, 2015 in the chapel of Duckett-Robinson Funeral Home, Central, SC.
Graveside service with full military honors will be 9 AM, Friday, May 22, 2015 at the Military Cemetery, Fort Benning, GA.
In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the charity of one's choice.
Condolences may be expressed online at www.robinsonfuneralhomes.com or at Duckett-Robinson Funeral Home, Central, SC.