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Remember...Carl L. Keller
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Carl L. Keller was Clay County's first soldier to enlist during World War II. On May 13, 1913, Carl L. Keller was born in Procious, West Virginia, to Henry Mike and Nancy Belle McCune Keller. Henry Mike and Nancy Keller raised Carl in Procious along with his siblings, Herbert, Shirley, Minnie, and the future Mrs. Alvin Strickland. Henry Mike worked on a farm, where he taught his children the importance of hard work. A childhood friend commented that even as a teenager, Carl worked with enthusiasm and found no drudgery in hard work. Carl never forgot the value of working hard and continued to exemplify it as an adult.
| When the United States entered World War II, Carl felt that he should fight for his country. Therefore, on November 23, 1940, Carl L. Keller entered the army at Huntington, West Virginia, and then went to Fort Knox for basic training. The government sent Carl overseas on May 11, 1942, where he landed on Belfast, Ireland. From there he went to Liverpool, England and finally to Oran, North Africa for the invasion on November 8, 1942. From North Africa, he fought in the French Morocco-Algerian and Tunisian campaigns. During his time in combat, Carl rose to Technical Sergeant and finally to First Lieutenant. |  Carl L. Keller
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 Carl and Naomi Keller |
Even though Carl was devoted to his work, he never forget the importance of having something else in one's life, like love. During his time in service, he fell in love with Naomi R. Wolfe of Kentucky. She taught at the Chapel of Cresthaven Seminary in Germantown, Pennsylvania. In July 1943, Carl returned to the United States with a convoy of prisoners. During his time in the United States, he married the woman he could only dream about while overseas. On August 24, 1943, the bride's uncle, Reverend P.C. Hoffman, married Carl and Naomi at the Chapel of Cresthaven Seminary. The celebration only lasted a short time because on October 2, Carl's duty as a soldier forced him to leave his new wife and return to Italy. |
After Carl returned from his brief stay in the United States, he continued with the devotion to his work that he learned as a child. His strength and courage helped to win several battles, which earned him the Army Good Conduct Medal, the African/European Theater Medal, the Combat Infantry Badge, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Oak Cluster to the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and the Oak Cluster to the Purple Heart. On one particular mission, he led a group of men to investigate a territory the night before the unit's attack. Due to Carl's leadership, the group returned unharmed(Article), even with the heavy machine guns and hand grenades, with the valuable information that helped lead to victory the next day.
| On July 7, 1944, Lieutenant Carl L. Keller was on patrol duty when he and his friend, Sergeant Lee McSurdy, were caught in a German machine gun nest. Those machine guns killed Carl, but his friend made it out alive. Carl and Lee had made a pact that if one died, the other would visit their family. Lee fulfilled this promise three years later when he visited the home of Henry Mark and Nancy Keller. For Lieutenant Carl L. Keller's efforts that day, the government posthumously awarded him the Purple Heart again, but this time for giving his life in service. |  Grave marker of Carl L. Keller
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West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
