Tombstone Tuesday - Carroll E. Yates

Carroll Estes Yates, son of Estes Gilbert & Eva Delphinia (Hayes) Yates, was born on June 25, 1918 and died April 28, 1992. He was my great uncle, brother to my grandmother, Linona Alice Yates. His grave is in the Middle Intervale Cemetery, on Intervale Rd. in Bethel, Maine. This cemetery is located behind a meetinghouse built in 1816. For much of my life, the meetinghouse was in the possession of the Carter family. When the upkeep became too much, the family donated it to the Middle Intervale Meetinghouse Association. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. 

I knew him as "Uncle Tom" because all of my grandmother's siblings had nicknames that did not match their given names. I didn't see him often because he lived in Colorado while I was growing up. He had both arms covered in tattoos - which was fascinating to me as a kid. He was the only person I knew with tattoos - what a different world today! He enlisted in the army on February 19, 1941. His enlistment record shows he had graduated from high school, was single with no dependents, had worked as a lumberman, and was 5 ft. 9" tall and weighed 157 pounds. He enlisted as a private but as his gravestone shows, he was promoted over time to T. Sgt. (Technical Sargeant). His Veteran's Death File record shows an enlistment date of January 29, 1941. I'm not sure what explains the discrepancy between the two records. It's quite interesting to see what kinds of things one can learn from different records.