On June 6, 1944, a massive Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France during World War II marked the beginning of the liberation of Western Europe from German control. D-Day, as it became known, occurred 82 years ago, but many families are still affected by it today, including that of Whitesboro man Bill Fulmer.
Fulmer’s father was Staff Sergeant Carl William Fulmer, a member of the United States Army’s 359th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division who landed on Normandy on D-Day.
Sergeant Fulmer had entered the service on Oct. 19, 1942 and trained at Fort Dix, New Jersey, Camp Barkeley, Texas and in Louisiana and California before leaving for overseas on March 23, 1944. He was awarded two Purple Hearts, the Silver Star, the WWII Victory Medal, and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal.
Sgt. Fulmer was born on Jan. 18, 1922 at Tioga in Grayson County, Texas to James Robert and Allie Mae Fulmer. He attended school at Burton and Tioga and was a member of the Baptist Church. He was married to Mary Ruth Cannon and had one son, Billy Carl Fulmer. He also had six brothers, Harlen, Onus, Lewis, Lewen, Glen and James and five sisters, Vera, Verda, Eula Faye, Frankie and Mattie Lou.
A poem by Sgt. Carl W. Fulmer
(The following poem was written by Sgt. Fulmer to his wife, Mary Ruth, and young son Billy Carl, while waiting to go into battle against German forces in France in 1944. It is presented here as he wrote it in his own words.)
It is hard to stand around and see what I can see,
If you should be awake, you would know as much as me.
It is hard to tell you this, all though it is really true.
I have met a lot of people, but not the one like you.
You are the one I need, the one so brave and true,
The one that was made for me just like I was made for you.
No one could ever bear the pain we both been through,
And in this world of danger it fills my heart with pain
To know the way I love you, it was a dirty shame.
The war has took me over to go away so far,
I pray to God in heaven you will be my guiding star.
So when this war is over I’ll come just where you are.
The words that I am typing don’t mean that I am sad.
It means that I do love you and love you like a dad.
My life is called a number that runs from large to small,
Like all the rest of the boys we fight and never fall.
I know you love me darling, just like we love our son.
He is our little baby and the only one.
The one who calls me daddy, and kicks his chubby feet,
That makes my eyes look down as I walk upon the street.
He is our little baby with his bottle in his hand,
If life does permit, he will grow to be a man.
And when this war is over and I have run my race,
I know my darling baby will take his daddy’s place.
Then his darling mother with age marks on her face,
Will say we love our daddy who fought for our home place.
With scars on his fingers and his hair had turned to gray,
We will not forget the trouble which came in our early days.
Sergeant Fulmer never returned to see his wife and son. Commanding a unit in front line battle with Germans, he was shot after taking control of a gun position of a fallen soldier in France on Sept. 27, 1944. Sgt. Fulmer is buried in the Tioga Cemetery.
As printed in “They Stand Proudly With God – Pilot Point Area Servicemen Killed in WWII, Korea and Vietnam,” written by Pilot Point native Elwood Branum.