Clarence L. "Kit" Carson

1919 - 2018

Clarence L. "Kit" Carson FORT WORTH--Col. Clarence L. "Kit" Carson, 99, passed away Sunday, Sept. 2, 2018, in Harrisonburg, Va. MEMORIAL SERVICE: 2 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018, at St. Stephen Presbyterian Church. Interment: with military honors, 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018, in the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. Viewing/reception: 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 10, 2018, at Greenwood. Kit was born in Clinton, Ill., Feb. 13, 1919, to Clarence L. Carson Sr. and Vivian Carson. Kit grew up in Stonington, Ill., where his father owned a drug store. He graduated from Stonington High School in 1936 and attended the Indianapolis College of Pharmacy for one year. His first love was flying, and he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps in July, 1940. He met the love of his life, Evelyn Marie Reany, at a Rexall Drug convention in Peoria, Ill., in 1939, and they were married in 1942 in Midland, Texas. Kit entered aviation cadet training in 1942 and graduated in 1943, receiving his pilot's wings and second lieutenant commission. In World War II, Kit was stationed at Polebrook, England, and piloted a B-17 bomber on 30 missions over occupied France and Germany, including six missions to Berlin. After the war, he was Chief of Air Police in Fairbanks, Alaska, and then returned to flying status in 1950. By the time he went off flying status in 1964, he had over 6,000 hours at the controls of the B-17, C-47, B-36 and B-52. Kit and Evelyn traveled across the United States and to Japan during his career. In 1965, at the age of 46, he volunteered for a tour of duty in Vietnam, serving at Ton Son Nhut Air Base near Saigon. His Air Force career ended in 1973 at Carswell Air Force Base, and he and Evelyn made Fort Worth their home. Kit never tired of learning and enrolled at the University of Texas at Arlington, earning a Master's Degree in Business Administration in 1978. Then for eight years he worked for the city of Fort Worth in the Civil Defense office where one of his duties was to supervise ambulance operations. Following that job, he took a position in the Fort Worth Police Department's Information Center where he worked for 20 years, retiring in 2007 at the age of 88. During his military career, Kit received 16 medals and decorations, including the Legion of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, five Air Medals, the Bronze Star, two Meritorious Service Medals and the Vietnam Service Medal with three battle stars. Kit and Evelyn enjoyed 67 years of marriage before she passed away in 2009. SURVIVORS: Sons, Christopher L. Carson and wife, Theresa, of Green Brook, N.J., and Keith A. Carson and wife, Polly Newlon, of Blue Grass, Va.; grandson, Christian Carson and wife, Monique, of Denver, Colo.; granddaughter, Kathleen and husband, Joseph Njau, of Manville, N.J.; great-granddaughters, Cambria and Natalya of Denver, Colo., and Eva and Nya of Manville, N.J.