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As a member of Beartown Sportsman Association, please remember that you signed a contract stating that you read, understand, and agree to follow the firing range rules. These rules are posted in 2 places on Beartown's property, as well. Please abide by them when on the range.
Meetings are held the third Thursday of each month at the club house. Members are welcome to join! |
Upcoming events
Meeting October 17, 2024 7:30 p.m. Block Shoot October 27, 2024 1:00 p.m. Adopt-A-Highway October 28, 2024 6:00 p.m. Meeting November 21, 2024 7:30 p.m. |
An Afternoon With Beartown's Dedicated Member and World War II Veteran
In honor of the passing of World War II Veteran and Former President George H. W. Bush, Beartown Sportsman Association would like to recognize one of its long-time members and World War II Veteran Edward B. Carvell. Ed spoke with two of our members, Mark Siedhof and Kelly Siedhof, one afternoon and recalled his time with Beartown as well as his Army deployment in World War II.
Ed was born November 28, 1926 on a farm located north of Churchtown along Hammertown Road. He was the 10th child of 16 born to Nathan W. and Hattie Bear Carvell. Ed attended Edwards School at the intersection of Hammertown Road and Edwards Road for grades 1 through 8, then Caernarvon Township High School in Morgantown for grades 8 through 12.
Ed got his start with Beartown Sportsman in 1953, only a few years after the organization was established. The club had approximately 25 members, compared to the current 650 members. The clubhouse at the time, Ed described, sat closer to Gehman Road with the driveway leading cars behind the building (opposite the current building) before the structure burned in 1955.
During one holiday season, Beartown hosted a Halloween party in which Ed and his wife recalled square dancing in the former clubhouse.
Ed also did some handy work for the club as he designed the flying targets for the block shoots using his knowledge of engineering.
Transitioning our conversation to Ed’s military experience, he described departing his home on February 9, 1945 during his senior year of high school when he was drafted into the United States Army. He missed his high school graduation ceremony to serve in the Army, but his mother received his diploma in his place.
Meanwhile, Ed traveled to Camp Blanding, Florida for ten weeks of training where he learned to fire the M-1, the M-1 carbine, the 1911 45 pistol, the BAR rifle, the 30-caliber air-cooled machine gun, the mortar, the bazooka, and throwing hand grenades.
After completing boot camp, Ed traveled to Fort Ord, California by troop train for several weeks of advanced training. While there, Ed and his crew prepared for the invasion of Japan. From Fort Ord, Ed traveled to Camp Stoneman, California and prepared to be shipped out. Around that time, the two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan and they surrendered, but Ed was loaded onto troop transport ship #PA100 and headed for Hawaii to join a convoy of ships headed for the Philippine Islands.
Aboard the ship, Ed worked in the mail room where he sorted mail and listened to commission officers read “Dear John” letters while censoring the mail. Some letters read “I’m done with you. I found someone else.” Other letters were more “spicy,” Ed recalled. The men shared lots of laughs.
Ed also worked in the morgue while aboard the ship. Japanese snipers did not realize the war was over and continued shooting, so American soldiers continued to find bodies in the jungle. Ed’s job was to prepare the bodies to be sent home.
Ed was lucky, he said. Because he worked in the mail room, he had the privilege of going ashore at each island to deliver bags of mail. He was able to see glimpses of Eniwetok, Ulithi, Mog Mog, and Leyte.
At their final stop, Leyte Island, Ed and his crew unloaded the ship and boarded a small ship a few weeks later to Mindanao Island. There he was assigned to Fox Company 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Division. Ed was assigned to the fourth platoon, first machine gun squad. He moved up through the ranks and was promoted to acting Platoon Sargent, the rank he held until his discharge.
The men were soon loaded onto a small ship headed for Japan. They arrived a few weeks after the atom bombs were dropped. Ed recollects that all the buildings in Japan were completely flattened. The few people who remained were desperate for food. The small transport ships were anchored off-shore for fear of the water near the shore being mined with explosives. The men waded ashore in knee-deep water while carrying all their gear.
Fox Company was assigned to the city of Kumamoto. The city had a Japanese army camp, which the men used as their headquarters. Ed and his comrades’ duties included overseeing a group of Japanese as they destroyed their rifles, bayonets, sabers, and ammunition. Then he was assigned to oversee a group of Japanese in constructing roads around the camp. Ed remembered hauling crushed stone in a 1930s flatbed Chevy truck.
He recalled that most of the vehicles in Japan were American-made Chevrolets, which ran on burning charcoal and water. The combination, Ed recalled, may have produced a gas that powered the engine. The units were in the trunk of the cars or in the bed of trucks, right behind the cab. He wished he had paid closer attention to the mechanics of the vehicles.
After completing his duties with the Fox Company, Ed made his way towards home. He arrived in the states and was sent to Fort Meade, Maryland before arriving home on Halloween night in 1946. He was officially discharged on December 12, 1946.
Ed settled into civilian life with a job at New Holland Machine as a setup man in the parts welding department. He soon transitioned into a job at A. G. Oberholzer Chevrolet Dealership in Terre Hill where he performed auto body repairs and spray-painted fenders for the following five years.
1952 was a busy year as Ed married his wife, Dorothy Virginia Oatman, on July 26 and started a promising career at Sperry New Holland, a farming equipment manufacturing company. He worked in the engineering shop performing experimental machinery. Ed worked with Sperry New Holland until his retirement in May of 1985.
Ed and Dorothy have two sons: Ed Jr, born in 1959, and John, born in 1961. In 1962, the family bought their home in New Holland.
In his retirement, Ed spent some time working for his son, John, in lawnmower repair. He also worked for Groff High Funeral Home and did some sewing machine repair in Churchtown. Ed volunteers for Meals on Wheels, he drives children to Shriner’s Hospital in Philadelphia, and volunteers for Hospice.
Ed has been a member of the Ephrata American Legion Cloister Post #429 for 65 years. He is a life member of VFW, New Holland, Post #7362. Ed has been a member of the Masons for 53 years and, of course, a charter member of Beartown Sportsman Association since 1953.
On behalf of Beartown Sportsman Association, we would like to thank Edward B. Carvell for his service to our country and for his dedication to our organization.
Ed was born November 28, 1926 on a farm located north of Churchtown along Hammertown Road. He was the 10th child of 16 born to Nathan W. and Hattie Bear Carvell. Ed attended Edwards School at the intersection of Hammertown Road and Edwards Road for grades 1 through 8, then Caernarvon Township High School in Morgantown for grades 8 through 12.
Ed got his start with Beartown Sportsman in 1953, only a few years after the organization was established. The club had approximately 25 members, compared to the current 650 members. The clubhouse at the time, Ed described, sat closer to Gehman Road with the driveway leading cars behind the building (opposite the current building) before the structure burned in 1955.
During one holiday season, Beartown hosted a Halloween party in which Ed and his wife recalled square dancing in the former clubhouse.
Ed also did some handy work for the club as he designed the flying targets for the block shoots using his knowledge of engineering.
Transitioning our conversation to Ed’s military experience, he described departing his home on February 9, 1945 during his senior year of high school when he was drafted into the United States Army. He missed his high school graduation ceremony to serve in the Army, but his mother received his diploma in his place.
Meanwhile, Ed traveled to Camp Blanding, Florida for ten weeks of training where he learned to fire the M-1, the M-1 carbine, the 1911 45 pistol, the BAR rifle, the 30-caliber air-cooled machine gun, the mortar, the bazooka, and throwing hand grenades.
After completing boot camp, Ed traveled to Fort Ord, California by troop train for several weeks of advanced training. While there, Ed and his crew prepared for the invasion of Japan. From Fort Ord, Ed traveled to Camp Stoneman, California and prepared to be shipped out. Around that time, the two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan and they surrendered, but Ed was loaded onto troop transport ship #PA100 and headed for Hawaii to join a convoy of ships headed for the Philippine Islands.
Aboard the ship, Ed worked in the mail room where he sorted mail and listened to commission officers read “Dear John” letters while censoring the mail. Some letters read “I’m done with you. I found someone else.” Other letters were more “spicy,” Ed recalled. The men shared lots of laughs.
Ed also worked in the morgue while aboard the ship. Japanese snipers did not realize the war was over and continued shooting, so American soldiers continued to find bodies in the jungle. Ed’s job was to prepare the bodies to be sent home.
Ed was lucky, he said. Because he worked in the mail room, he had the privilege of going ashore at each island to deliver bags of mail. He was able to see glimpses of Eniwetok, Ulithi, Mog Mog, and Leyte.
At their final stop, Leyte Island, Ed and his crew unloaded the ship and boarded a small ship a few weeks later to Mindanao Island. There he was assigned to Fox Company 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Division. Ed was assigned to the fourth platoon, first machine gun squad. He moved up through the ranks and was promoted to acting Platoon Sargent, the rank he held until his discharge.
The men were soon loaded onto a small ship headed for Japan. They arrived a few weeks after the atom bombs were dropped. Ed recollects that all the buildings in Japan were completely flattened. The few people who remained were desperate for food. The small transport ships were anchored off-shore for fear of the water near the shore being mined with explosives. The men waded ashore in knee-deep water while carrying all their gear.
Fox Company was assigned to the city of Kumamoto. The city had a Japanese army camp, which the men used as their headquarters. Ed and his comrades’ duties included overseeing a group of Japanese as they destroyed their rifles, bayonets, sabers, and ammunition. Then he was assigned to oversee a group of Japanese in constructing roads around the camp. Ed remembered hauling crushed stone in a 1930s flatbed Chevy truck.
He recalled that most of the vehicles in Japan were American-made Chevrolets, which ran on burning charcoal and water. The combination, Ed recalled, may have produced a gas that powered the engine. The units were in the trunk of the cars or in the bed of trucks, right behind the cab. He wished he had paid closer attention to the mechanics of the vehicles.
After completing his duties with the Fox Company, Ed made his way towards home. He arrived in the states and was sent to Fort Meade, Maryland before arriving home on Halloween night in 1946. He was officially discharged on December 12, 1946.
Ed settled into civilian life with a job at New Holland Machine as a setup man in the parts welding department. He soon transitioned into a job at A. G. Oberholzer Chevrolet Dealership in Terre Hill where he performed auto body repairs and spray-painted fenders for the following five years.
1952 was a busy year as Ed married his wife, Dorothy Virginia Oatman, on July 26 and started a promising career at Sperry New Holland, a farming equipment manufacturing company. He worked in the engineering shop performing experimental machinery. Ed worked with Sperry New Holland until his retirement in May of 1985.
Ed and Dorothy have two sons: Ed Jr, born in 1959, and John, born in 1961. In 1962, the family bought their home in New Holland.
In his retirement, Ed spent some time working for his son, John, in lawnmower repair. He also worked for Groff High Funeral Home and did some sewing machine repair in Churchtown. Ed volunteers for Meals on Wheels, he drives children to Shriner’s Hospital in Philadelphia, and volunteers for Hospice.
Ed has been a member of the Ephrata American Legion Cloister Post #429 for 65 years. He is a life member of VFW, New Holland, Post #7362. Ed has been a member of the Masons for 53 years and, of course, a charter member of Beartown Sportsman Association since 1953.
On behalf of Beartown Sportsman Association, we would like to thank Edward B. Carvell for his service to our country and for his dedication to our organization.
History
Beartown Sportsman's Association desired to be incorporated on May 5, 1933. Not until May 18, 1951 was the association decreed to be incorporated. In the early years, the club members met in a chicken house until later years when the members acquired the current 14-acre property in Narvon, PA. The original building on this property burned down due to a lightning strike, but was rebuilt to the current building.
The original officers included:
President: Carl I Dombach
Vice President: Paul Weller
Secretary: Eugene Y Gehman
Financial Treasurers: Ross R Fink and Henry L Sloan
Beartown Sportsman's Association is a member of the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen and Conservationists. The club not only raises trout to stock local creeks for fishing derbies but also raises pheasants to stock local forestry for hunting. Beartown sponsors a stretch of route 322 in trash pick-up, cleaning the roadway once a month. In the months of September through April, Beartown hosts a block shoot each third Sunday, offering various prizes. Each July, Beartown sponsors two youth to attend Youth Conservation Camp at Northern Lancaster County Game and Fish Protective Association in Denver, PA.
Beartown Sportsman's Association desired to be incorporated on May 5, 1933. Not until May 18, 1951 was the association decreed to be incorporated. In the early years, the club members met in a chicken house until later years when the members acquired the current 14-acre property in Narvon, PA. The original building on this property burned down due to a lightning strike, but was rebuilt to the current building.
The original officers included:
President: Carl I Dombach
Vice President: Paul Weller
Secretary: Eugene Y Gehman
Financial Treasurers: Ross R Fink and Henry L Sloan
Beartown Sportsman's Association is a member of the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen and Conservationists. The club not only raises trout to stock local creeks for fishing derbies but also raises pheasants to stock local forestry for hunting. Beartown sponsors a stretch of route 322 in trash pick-up, cleaning the roadway once a month. In the months of September through April, Beartown hosts a block shoot each third Sunday, offering various prizes. Each July, Beartown sponsors two youth to attend Youth Conservation Camp at Northern Lancaster County Game and Fish Protective Association in Denver, PA.
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