November 11, 2022
Dear Veterans,
This letter is my tribute to the veterans in my family and families around the nation. It is with deep love and appreciation that I acknowledge my father, Uriah T. Cartwright, who served in WWII in the Army as a radio dispatcher in Viareggio, Italy, for the Red Tails, also known as the Tuskegee Airmen. He was the only one in his unit to get hit just before they shipped out. He received the Purple Heart for the injury to his leg from shrapnel and the Bronze Star for heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. My father’s brothers, Garfield and Carl, served in the Navy and Army, respectively. Carl Cartwright served as a lifetime serviceman.
My mother, Charlotte Galloway Cartwright, served in WWII in the Army as a WAC in France and Belgium. She was a typist, and, after her honorable release, she was the administrative assistant to the Assistant Director of the Veterans Administration in Manhattan. Later she worked at the Naval Hospital in St. Albans, New York, processing wounded soldiers.
My husband and the father of my two children, Peter J. Serrano, served in the Army in Vietnam, where he was wounded and received a Purple Heart.
My brother, Carlton G. Cartwright served in the Air Force in Wiesbaden, Germany. Following in our Uncle Carl’s footsteps, Carlton became a professional photographer and videographer. Through his nonprofit organization, The Children’s Coalition, Carlton has produced video interviews for the Veterans’ History Project of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center created by the United States Congress in 2000 to collect and preserve the firsthand remembrances of U.S. wartime veterans available at this link: https://www.loc.gov/search/?fa=contributor_organization:children%27s+coalition+/+va+medical+center,+west+palm+beach
Carlton’s interview with my father is linked here: https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.79149/
Sincerely,
Dr. Joan Cartwright
Words We Speak 