Upon completing high school, Carl entered college for a year before joining the United States Air Force in August of 1966. After basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas, he attended technical school at Keesler AFB in Biloxi Mississippi and became an electronics technician.

His first assignment after tech school was with the 62nd Military Airlift Wing at McChord AFB, in Tacoma Washington where he worked on C-141 Starlifters and C-124 Globe Masters.

In September of 1968, he was reassigned to the 51st Fighter Interceptor Wing at Naha AB, Okinawa where he helped maintain communications for a squadron of F-102A Delta Daggers. While stationed there, he also served three temporary duty assignments at (K-13) Suwon AB, Korea.

In 1970, he was released from active duty and returned to Piggott, Arkansas.

Carl's father, William Edward "Dink" Hitt, joined the Arkansas National Guard in January 1941 just as the unit was being federalized as the 206th Coast Artillery. Within days, hundreds of young men from Northeast Arkansas were sent to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas for several months of training before being reassigned to Dutch Harbor, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands to guard against a possible Japanese invasion of the U. S. mainland from the North.

Dink had initially planned to serve his required year and then get on with his life. However, that all changed on December 7th when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and he, like many other soldiers, was retained in the military for the duration of the war.

Just six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the men at Dutch Harbor got their baptism of fire. On June 3rd and 4th, 1942, carrier-based Japanese planes bombed the island as a diversionary tactic trying to lure the American Navy away from their main objective, which was Midway Island in the Pacific.

During several attacks over that two-day period, 78 Americans, including civilians were killed, 64 were wounded, and three were captured.

In August 1944, after being stationed at Dutch Harbor for 32 consecutive months, the Arkansas units returned to the U. S. mainland.

In early January 1945, Dink was reassigned to the 771st Tank Battalion in Europe and participated in Operation Plunder crossing the Rhine River with that unit on March 23, 1945 at the end of the Battle of the Bulge.

When the war ended in August 1945 he was released from active duty and returned to Piggott, Arkansas where he lived for the rest of his life.

John W. "Pete" Gordon was a close family friend. During WWII, Pete was a member of the 101st Airborne, 506th PIR, "G" or George Company. He jumped at Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and in Holland during operation Market Garden on September 17, 1944. In the Battle of the Bulge, he was one of the Battered Bastards of Bastogne who held their ground and eventually retook that town.

Although the 506th's "E" or Easy Company has received much recognition for their part during this operation, the men of companies "A" - "D" and "F" - "I" also excelled in holding their areas along that line; however, they have remain largely unrecognized for their contribution.

We all owe all of those men a huge debt of gratitude for their courage and determination in defeating Hitler and the Nazis. Our world would be a totally different place today if they had not succeeded in winning the war. Our current freedom was paid for by every Allied soldiers who helped win that victory.