CARL
E. VOTTI
Patriot, Chapter 1919
(ARMY,
WWII, Europe) Article October 1998
Carl E. Votti
was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 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 Votti
passed away August 10, 1999.
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. |
