Bagpipe music filled Miller Park on Sunday afternoon, as about 100 people gathered to honor the area’s fallen firefighters at the annual Firefighters Memorial Service.
Held at the foot of the Firefighters Memorial Fountain, this year’s service had special significance for the family of Army Staff Sgt. Wesley P. Carwile, a Lynchburg firefighter who died in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944.
Sunday was the first time Carwile was publicly recognized for his service.
Carwile “gave his life for our nation,” said Master Firefighter Nathan Chapman before unveiling a display with Carwile’s Soldier’s Flag, National Defense Service Medal, European Campaign Medal, Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
On hand for the event were two of Carwile’s siblings, several cousins and a nephew.
“There were five brothers in World War II and all of them came home except for Wesley,” said Revely Carwile Jr., Wesley Carwile’s nephew.
The last time Wesley Carwile’s family saw him was in 1942, when he went home to Gladys for his father’s funeral, Revely Carwile Jr. said. In July 1944 he went to Normandy where he was a radio operator in the command’s headquarters.
“In his last letter home, he was homesick and he asked them to send him some chocolate. He was thinking about Christmas,” said Revely Carwile Jr., who helped the fire department gather the information about his uncle as well as the flag and military decorations.
On Dec. 17, just days into the Battle of the Bulge, the headquarters were hit by a shell. Carwile and the other soldiers inside the building died in the blast.
Saturday, Oct. 2, would have been Wesley Carwile’s 95th birthday.
Since 1883 the Lynchburg Fire Department has lost 22 comrades as well as three volunteers, one each from the Lynchburg Lifesaving Crew, the Monelison Volunteer Fire Department and the Brookville-Timberlake Volunteer Fire Department.
Each year the members of those agencies and their families gather to remember those who died in the line of duty and hear the bell toll in their honor.
“We have been servants as Wesley Carwile was. He was a servant to the nation,” said Chaplain Les Davidson. “Let us remember that these names recalled were servants to the citizens.”
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