War hero’s mother wants son buried at Arlington — 50 years later

A teenage Marine knew what to do when he was pinned down by enemy fire in Vietnam and a grenade was tossed between him and his friends.

Pvt. First-Class Bruce W. Carter, 19, was posthumously awarded the nation’s highest medal for valor in combat.

“Dying for freedom isn’t the worst thing that can happen,” said Carter’s mother, Georgie Carter-Krell, 88, of Virginia Gardens. “Being forgotten is.”

Since accepting his Congressional Medal of Honor at the White House, in 1971 from former Vice President Spiro Agnew, Carter-Krell has worked hard to promote her son’s legacy.

She has persuaded leaders to rename the Miami Veterans Administration Hospital after Bruce Carter, as well as a street near her home, and she keeps his memory alive by sharing stories at memorial events about the country.

“Bruce liked cars and girls,” said Carter-Krell, as she recalls how her son was an average ‘60s teen at Miami Springs High.

Laid to rest some 50 years ago at Vista Memorial Gardens, near Opa-locka Airport, Carter-Krell said it dawned on her recently that her son deserved a resting place in our nation’s most hallowed ground: the 624-acre Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

“I was young and didn’t understand things,” said Carter-Krell. “I’m not going to live forever.”

The octogenarian has worn white for decades, symbolic of her support for other America Gold Star mothers who have lost a son or daughter in military service.

Carter-Krell said she has reached out to President Trump’s office for help in transferring her son’s body from Miami to Arlington but has not yet received a call back.

A message from the Herald seeking comment from President Trump’s press office Thursday was not immediately returned.

“Something like this needs to come from the top,” said Carter-Krell.

This story was originally published December 8, 2019 at 1:02 PM.