By WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL
CLEMMONS — Someone broke into the Yadkinville home of retired Army Lt. Col. Kenis Carter last year and stole the medals he earned during his service with the N.C. National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve.
With help from staff for U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, who represents the 5th District, Carter got those medals replaced three months ago. Foxx presented them to him Wednesday at a brief ceremony in her Clemmons office.
"I was having trouble getting my medals back," Carter said to Foxx.
Foxx replied that she was happy to help Carter and other veterans replace their lost or stolen medals.
"It is always poignant during Veterans Day week," she said.
Her staff requested replacement medals from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, said Brad Langston, a constituent liaison in Foxx's office. The U.S. Army also agreed to replace Carter's medals.
She pinned the Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal with two bronze oak leaf clusters to Carter's uniform. Foxx also gave him a Meritorious Service Medal.
Carter, 75, smiled in his uniform that he hasn't worn in 20 years.
"One of the best parts of my job is to award medals," Foxx said as she thanked Carter for his service. "Folks like you help keep us free."
"It was a pleasure for me to serve," Carter said to Foxx.
The medals acknowledge Carter's 29-year military career, he said. Carter grew up on a farm near Elkin and graduated from Elkin High School in 1956.
His military career began after he graduated in 1960 from Appalachian State University with a bachelor's degree in business education. He then joined the Army as a private and completed basic training at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C.
Carter later completed the N.C. Military Academy Leadership School at Fort Bragg and then enrolled in officers' candidate school at that base. As a second lieutenant, Carter was first assigned to a rifle and weapons platoon of the 120th Infantry Regiment of the N.C. National Guard in Mount Airy.
His outfit was placed on alert during the Vietnam War but was never deployed overseas, Carter said.
His unit was sent to Winston-Salem in November 1967 to help control a riot that broke out in the city, Carter said. His company was sent to Greensboro in May 1969 to quell a disturbance at N.C. A&T State University.
Carter said his company searched for snipers in Scott Hall who had fired at Greensboro police. No snipers were found, but the guardsmen found a couple of knives in the dormitory.
Carter rose through the officers' corps and achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1972, he received a master's degree in drivers traffic-safety education from Michigan State University.
He retired in 1989 at age 53. Two years later, he volunteered to serve in the Persian Gulf War, but the Army didn't accept him. At that time, Army leaders may have considered him too old, Carter said.
In civilian life, Carter worked four years as a teacher at Boonville High School. From 1967 to 1992, he worked as a drivers education teacher at Forbush High School in eastern Yadkin County.
Kathryn Johnson of Morganton, a friend of Carter's, accompanied him to Foxx's office. Johnson said after the ceremony that Carter deserves the recognition.
"It is wonderful that Foxx could do this for him," she said. "Mr. Carter is a very nice man."
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