Carl Sheppard

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Biography

Carl Sheppard was born in North Carolina.

AMM Carl Sheppard served in the United States Navy in World War II
Service started: service started as 11 Jun 1943
Unit(s): VPB53;
Service ended: service ended as 17 Apr 1946

Carl was born in Gaston County, North Carolina, on July 19, 1923, to TA Sheppard and Bertie Ella Galloway.^[1] His birth occurred about 4 1/2 months after his parents’ marriage.^[2]

Carl was living in King's Mountain, North Carolina in 1930.^[3] Carl's father had been involved in the 1929 Loray Mill Strike in Gastonia, and was blackballed from working in the mills there. The family had to move to King's Mountain.

By at least 1936, the Sheppards were back in Gastonia. Carl joined the Boy Scouts of America on 4 January 1937 at the age of 13. His very short diary entries can been seen here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Carl_Sheppard%27s_Boy_Scout_Diary.

Carl attended high school in Gaston County where is family resided.^[4] While at Ashley High School (now Ashbrook), he became an excellent football player. The media nicknamed him “King Carl” due to his prowess in the football field. Carl was the only junior to be selected for the North Carolina Shrine Bowl Team. One of his teammates on the Shrine Bowl team was Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice. Carl did not get to play much as he was playing second to Justice. He always felt he should have been allowed to play more.

Carl won the AB Carter as the most outstanding athlete in Gaston County, in 1942. (His brother, Roger, would win the same award many years later.)

During World War II, Carl was inducted into the United States Navy on 11 June 1943. His date of entry into active service was 15 October 1943, and after basic training was enrolled in flight training in Memphis, Tennessee, for 16 weeks. In 1944, Carl was assigned to VPB53 as a navigator flying PBYs in the Pacific Theatre. His date of separation (honorable discharge) was 17 April 1946.^[5] By this date, Carl had enrolled in Davidson College in chemistry.

Carl's tenure at Davidson was not long. After about 2 1/2 years there, he discontinued his studies and began working at the Superior Yarn Mill in Mt. Holly, North Carolina.

While he was still working at Superior, Carl was introduced by FH and Smitty Abernathy to his future wife, Betty Jean Underwood, while she was working as a first grade teacher at Long Creek Elementary School in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. After dating for a while, Carl was being called up to serve in the United States Army during the Korean War. Betty confronted Carl about marriage shortly before he was supposed to leave for duty. The were married 28 April 1951 at the First Baptist Church, Mt. Holly. The officiant was the Rev. John Sherman Farrar, Jr., a cousin of the bride.

Sources

1. ↑ "North Carolina Birth Index, 1800-2000," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VHJN-X23 : 8 December 2014), Carl Burnice Sheppard, 19 Jul 1923; from "North Carolina, Birth and Death Indexes, 1800-2000," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2005); citing vol. , p. , Gaston, North Carolina, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh.
2. ↑ Copy of marriage license and certificate in the possession of Pip Sheppard.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1930", database with images, FamilySearch (ark:/61903/1:1:X3SZ-XDJ : Wed Apr 05 07:09:49 UTC 2023), Entry for L H Sheppard and Bertie Sheppard, 1930.
4. ↑ 1940 Federal Census of Gaston County, North Carolina, Ancestry link
5. ↑ "North Carolina, Discharge and Statement of Service Records, 1940-1948," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2WK-VBG9 : accessed 7 September 2018), Carl Burnice Sheppard, 17 Apr 1946; citing Shelton, Clay, Virginia, United States, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh; FamilySearch digital folder 007419466.

• "United States Census, 1940", database with images, FamilySearch (ark:/61903/1:1:KW3K-X1H : Mon Jan 02 03:13:06 UTC 2023), Entry for L A Sheppard and Bertia E Sheppard, 1940.

• "North Carolina, Discharge and Statement of Service Records, 1940-1948," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2WK-VBG9 : accessed 7 September 2018), Carl Burnice Sheppard, 17 Apr 1946; citing Shelton, Clay, Virginia, United States, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh; FamilySearch digital folder 007419466.

• "United States 1950 Census", database, FamilySearch (ark:/61903/1:1:6FMM-SF1Q : Mon Jan 30 02:32:03 UTC 2023), Entry for T A Sheppard and Berttie Sheppard, 26 April 1950.

• "North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-1979 ," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP9G-NGLW : 9 March 2021), Carl Burnice Sheppard and Betty Jean Underwood, 28 Apr 1951; citing Mount Holly, Gaston, North Carolina, United States, p. , North Carolina State Archives Division of Archives and History; FHL microfilm .

• "North Carolina Deaths, 1931-1994", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FGDJ-XHL : 29 September 2022), Carl Burnice Sheppard, 1991.

• Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 07 September 2018), memorial page for Carl B Sheppard (19 Jul 1923–15 Mar 1991), Find A Grave Memorial no. 67898739, citing Forest Lawn West Cemetery, Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, USA ; Maintained by T.A.S. (contributor 47137595) . The data on this memorial is correct (PM).

• Carl Sheppard's Aviators Flight Log Book in the possession of M. Sheppard of Tucson, Arizona (2018).

• 1937 Boy Scout Diary of Carl Sheppard https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Carl_Sheppard%27s_Boy_Scout_Diary

• Maternal relationship is confirmed by a GEDmatch comparison between Pip Sheppard and Jeff M, his 2nd cousin . Their most-recent common ancestors are Rufus Galloway and Susan Butler, the great grandparents of Pip Sheppard and great grandparents of Jeff M. Predicted relationship from GEDmatch: Third cousins, based on sharing 55.9 cM (0.749%) across 13 segments.

• Maternal relationship is confirmed by an autosomal 23andMe test match between Pip Sheppard and A. Ledlie, his half 2nd cousin . Their most-recent common ancestor is Mary Patterson, the great grandmother of both Pip Sheppard and A. Ledlie. Predicted relationship from 23andMe: Second cousins, based on sharing 181 cM (2.43% DNA shared) across 6 segments.

Acknowledgements

A very special thank you goes to Natalie Trott for her assistance in improving this profile.

See Also:

This video show the aircraft that Carl flew in during World War II in the Pacific Theatre: [Wheels on Water - The Slow, Ugly, and Incredibly Successful Consolidated PBY Catalina https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNr46jO1eRo]