CARLSON, EVANS C.
WEST COLUMBIA — Services for Col. Evans Charles Carlson, USMC (Ret.), 87, of West Columbia, will be held at 10am Wednesday, April 6, 2005, in Mt. Tabor Lutheran Church, officiated by Rev. Paul Aebischer, Rev. Virginia Aebischer, and Mr. Art Wuertz. Burial with full military honors will follow at 2:30pm at Beaufort National Cemetery, Beaufort, SC. Honorary pallbearers will be Jason Evans Carlson, John Claude Fordyce Loving, Gabriel Evans-Hugh Loving, Benjamin Michael James Loving, Chris Diana, Maj. Ashley William Fisher, USMCR, 1st Sgt. Carl Barnhill, USMC (Ret.), Maj. John Hopkins, USMC (Ret.), and John Chester. The family will receive friends from 7-9pm Tuesday at Thompson Funeral Home of Lexington. Memorials may be made to Mt. Tabor Lutheran Church, 1000 “B” Ave., West Columbia, SC 29169 or to Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Grand Central Station, PO Box 4777, New York, NY 10163.
Col. Carlson died Saturday, April 2, 2005. Born in Douglas, AZ, he was the son of the late Brigadier General Evans F. Carlson, USMCR (Dec.) and Dorothy Seccombe Carlson. Col. Carlson was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the US Marine Corps in January 1942. He served in the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion known as Carlson’s Raiders. During WWII, he was awarded the Silver Star for Heroism during the Battle of Asamama on Guadalcanal. Additionally, Col. Carlson was awarded a second Silver Star for service in the Korean Conflict as a night fighter pilot. Other meritorious awards include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, two Distinguished Air Medals, two Purple Hearts, and two Presidential Unit Citations. Following his retirement from the Marine Corps in 1967, he served as Dean of Overseas Studies for City Colleges of Chicago. Col. Carlson was a member of Mt. Tabor Lutheran Church and he was a 32nd degree Mason.
Surviving are his wife, Regina M. Carlson of West Columbia; daughter and son-in-law, Karen Carlson Loving and John Farnsworth Loving of Greenville; sons, Evans J. “E.J.” Carlson and Thomas F. “Ford” Carlson, both of West Columbia; seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.