Staff photo / Chris McBride
Wilson “Pete” Carlisle outside of his Brookfield home.
BROOKFIELD — At one of the most intense periods of World War II, Wilson “Pete” Carlisle began his journey into military service in May 1943.
Drafted at the age of 18, he entered a world far removed from his life in Youngstown.
“They took you on a train to Pittsburgh… you got examined, and if you passed, you got a seven-day furlough,” Carlisle recalled.
He soon found himself at Fort Meade, Maryland, where the U.S. Army trained recruits before shipping them off to the frontlines.
“At Fort Meade, they gave me uniform clothing and socks, and they gave me a mental test to see what my IQ was,” Carlisle said.
His IQ score of 107, while high, fell just shy of the 110 required for officer training — a role he said he wasn’t particularly interested in anyway.
Carlisle was trained as a machine gunner and became part of the 840th Anti-Aircraft Automatic Weapons Battalion. This division’s primary mission was to defend military airports from enemy air attacks.
“Our job was to protect the airport,” he said.
His unit was one of the first to use automatic weapons built in England, marking a shift in military technology. “That’s why they called us an automatic weapon battalion.”
As World War II raged, Carlisle and his fellow soldiers were stationed at various locations in the U.S., including Savannah, Georgia.
“We spent time in Savannah on guard duty, guarding captured men from North Africa,” he said. These prisoners were part of the German Afrika Korps, a Nazi unit that had been defeated in the North African Campaign — a pivotal turning point in the war. Despite his stateside assignments, Carlisle and his comrades were eager for combat.
“We weren’t soldiers — we were just dumb kids wanting to get the job done and come back home,” Carlisle admitted.
Eventually, Carlisle’s unit was deployed to the Hawaiian Islands, part of a broader strategy to secure the Pacific Theater from Japanese forces.
“We were guarding the Air Force base in the Marshall Islands. The island was under martial law,” he said. The Marshall Islands, strategically located, were essential to U.S. operations in the Pacific, and securing them was part of the U.S. “island hopping” campaign, which aimed to weaken Japan’s defensive perimeter.
“We were put on First Alert every day. You had to have your gun clean and ready at all times,” he said.
This constant state of readiness was crucial, as the threat of Japanese counterattacks loomed. Carlisle formed deep bonds with the men he served with, a common experience among soldiers during the war.
“There’s a bond between military men … any man who might save your life is a friend of yours,” he said. This camaraderie stayed with him long after the fighting ended.
As the war neared its conclusion, Carlisle’s division was scheduled to take part in the invasion of Japan, a plan that could have resulted in staggering casualties on both sides.
“They told us we were going to invade Japan on Sept. 5th, 1945,” he recalled. However, the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 forced Japan’s surrender, sparing Carlisle and his fellow soldiers from what would have been a bloody invasion.
“When we heard the war was over, we were so relieved … we just wanted to go home,” he said.
After the war, Carlisle was reassigned to the engineering department in Pearl City, Hawaii, as part of the post-war demobilization effort.
“I ran that outfit for about two months,” he said, but his heart was set on returning to civilian life. In February 1946, Carlisle finally returned to Youngstown, which was booming thanks to the steel industry that had been essential to the war effort.
“Youngstown was a boomtown, for sure. The steel mills were working around the clock,” Carlisle said.
Carlisle’s personal life had also taken shape during the war. In November 1943, during his first furlough, he married his sweetheart, Betty.
“I said to myself, ‘What difference does it make? I’ll probably get killed anyhow,’” he said of his decision to marry amid the uncertainty of war. Together, they built a life in Youngstown and raised two children, Jim and David.
Life after the war was filled with hard work and family. Carlisle spent 37 years working in the mills as a maintenance electrician, a job that kept the steel plants running smoothly.
“I worked in a machine shop and was in charge, to keep running the carbide steel furnaces and hydrogen furnaces. We never had to shut down because we made sure everything was running. I think that’s a pretty good record,” Carlisle said.
Wilson “Pete” Carlisle
AGE: 100
RESIDENCE: Brookfield
SERVICE BRANCH: U.S. Army
MILITARY HONORS: sharpshooter medal, Pacific Campaign Ribbon
OCCUPATION: retired after 36 years in maintenance at Metal Carbide Corporation in Youngstown. Also was a millwright for seven years at Republic Steel and two years at Kaiser Steel in Fontana, California.
FAMILY: two sons; three grandchildren; four stepgrandchildren; five stepgreat-grandchildren
