Background: Jim Carson grew up in Butler, PA. As a child, he had all the bonuses of growing up on a farm, learning how to ride a horse, hunting, and back-breaking farm labor. He grew strong for his size due to hours of working in the fields of the family soybean acreage. When he graduated High School, there was no chance of going to college...he honestly had to admit that he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he never really applied himself in school either. So his grades were nowhere near scholarship level, and his school was too small for a good athletics program, so he never received scholarship notice there.

Facing a life of working his poor family farm, (something he never bothered to learn much about either) or laboring in a factory for little better than minimum wage, he decided to join the Army. Remembering his favorite story book hero, Kit Carson, he decided to enter the Cavalry in hopes to become a Scout, just like Kit. He found that he really took to the Army life...not as labor intensive as farming, decent pay (with free room and board), good food, and he got the chance to drive tanks and blow stuff up. He worked hard as a soldier, and rose in the enlisted ranks quickly. He quickly found himself a true "Lifer" and enjoyed the military and his role in it.

At the outbreak of war, he was stationed with A Troop, 1/4 Cav, detached to the 1st Infantry Division Forward in Boblingen, Germany. 1st ID took a pounding in the first weeks of the war, nearly overrun by the Soviet 8th Guards Army. Battalion HQ was overrun, and SgtM Carson wa barely able to hook up with a line unit before getting wiped out. Their group was cut-off and lost, and spent days running around and trying to hide from enemy patrols. Finally, their luck ran out. and they were caught by a platoon of OT-64's. In a fierce, running gun battle, Carson's M-2 Bradley took several critical hits from Czech 23 mm chain guns. Suffering a mobility kill, Carson and the Bradley crew could only try to keep fire on the enemy armor to allow the rest of his unit to escape.

Before a heroic "last stand" could be made, the Bradley took a turret hit and Carson was knocked out. He came to on a POW train enroute to a camp in Poland...