Carl R. Cannon

Entered into eternal rest, Carl R. Buddy' Cannon, age 90, of Charleston. Cannon was a 32-year veteran of the United States Army, known by many as the Sergeant at Normandy.' Those brave men whom he led into battle at Utah Beach on June 6, 1944 documented Cannon's bravado. They fought through the hedgerows and into Paris by early August of the same year. Cannon's direct commanding officer, Captain George L. Mabry, Jr., was a recipient of the Medal of Honor. "The army is built on the backs of sergeants," was Cannon's proud sentiment. Indeed, despite being wounded by a mine and spending minimal time for his treatment, the bandaged Sgt. Cannon escaped through the side of a field medical tent to join his men as they moved out into France. He did not want to be separated from the troops whom he had trained and inspired. Cannon walked over 1100 miles before VE Day in May of 1945. He had been to the Siegfried line, into Prague and finally Regensberg, Germany when victory was attained. He refused to ride in a jeep. "I walked because my men walked," he insisted. Cannon was accorded sixteen medals for his military achievement including the Purple Heart and the French Croix de Guerre. In time, Cannon returned to Normandy, where on June 6, 2004, he found the grave of his best friend that had died in the invasion sixty years earlier. Though he experienced other action in both the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, retiring in 1972, his heart was always at Normandy where he witnessed the fortitude and sacrifice of the greatest amphibious assault in history. It is there that the Sergeant at Normandy' will have returned to his final rest as a fitting tribute to the earned glory that defined his life. Cannon's warm and poignant Franco-American interactions helped bridge an important people-to-people interchange of those interested in the benefit of free countries building relationships. Indeed, Cannon adopted a young French friend, Stephanie Delarue Calligaro and her husband Fabrice, as his own family. In time, Cannon was unanimously elected to a life position as honorary president of a WWII vehicular history society in Paris, the Historic Motor Legend'. After his military retirement, Cannon worked at the Charleston Naval Shipyard until a second retirement in 1987. His wife, Stella Louise (nee Johnson) Cannon, passed away in 1986. Stella was the love of his life. Carl Cannon was born in Collins, GA, on August 14, 1921, the second child of Ralph Lester Cannon and Eugenia J. Martin Cannon. He is survived by his son Rick Cannon, of Gaston, SC, along with a brother, Ray Cannon of Kannapolis, NC. He is also survived by three sisters, Elizabeth C. Barre of Savannah, GA, Mary C. Brown of Lexington, SC, and Betty C. Rogers of Youngsville, NC. Two siblings, Luther "Luke" Cannon, and June C. Moody, both of West Columbia, SC, predeceased him. A service honoring Carl Cannon, the Sergeant at Normandy, will be held at James A. McAlister Funeral Home, 1620 Savannah Highway, Charleston, on Thursday, September 8th at 3:30 p.m. A separate memorial ceremony will be held on Wednesday September 14th, 2011, at Utah Beach, Normandy, France. All memorials should be sent to the charity of the donor's choice or the Historic Motor Legend, 64 Rue des Pltrires 95240 CORMEILLES EN PARISIS, France.