Los Angeles
County
Biographies
HORACE W. CARD
Active
in military, civic, and fraternal organizations, Brigadier General Horace W.
Card, Retired, of the United States Marine Corps Reserve, has a distinguished
war record. He served in both World Wars
and participated in the famous amphibious operations resulting in the assault
and capture of Bougainville, Guam, Peleliu, and Okinawa. He received many Letters of Commendation and
was decorated with the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit, for exceptionally
meritorious service in actual combat with the enemy.
Born
in Anoka, Minnesota, on June 8, 1896, General Card is the son of Winfield D.
and Cora Margaret (Welles) Card. His
family genealogy has been traced back to 1628 in Plymouth. General Card’s father, brought by his father
to Minnesota at the end of the Civil War, was a native of St. John’s, New
Brunswick; his mother was born in Monticello, Minnesota. The family moved to the state of Washington
near the turn of the century, and Horace W. Card received his education there,
graduating from Marysville High School, and working in logging camps and
sawmills.
At
the age of twenty, in 1916, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps,
serving at Bremerton Navy Yard and in France, and in Haiti for two years during
the revolutionary period of 1919-1921.
He was discharged from the Marine Corps as a quartermaster sergeant,
enrolled in the Marine Corps Reserve, and settled in California in 1922. He worked as a surveyor for private
engineers, and in 1926-1927, as a surveyor and inspector of construction for
the city of Inglewood, living in that city from that time until 1940. He spent six years as a civil engineer
draftsman in the Los Angeles County Surveyor’s Office, and in 1934 entered the
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
After six years active duty with the Marine Corps, during and after
World War II, he returned to the Sheriff’s Department, stationed in Temple
City, then for a short time in Altadena, and during his last four years of
service in that department was in charge of disaster communication service for
Los Angeles County Civil Defense, with his office in Los Angeles, until his
retirement on July 1, 1956.
In
1925 Horace Card was co-organizer of southern California’s first unit of Marine
Corps Reserve and was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in the
Reserve. Early in 1940 he became a major
and the executive officer of the 13th Battalion, United States
Marine Corps Reserve. Upon mobilization
Major Card served at San Diego, then organized and commanded the 1st
Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment.
Sent overseas in 1942, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and was on
the staff of the Command Headquarters of the III Amphibious Corps. He returned to inactive duty as a colonel, in
October, 1946, at which time he became a Temple City resident. In 1954 he organized and commanded the 12th
Staff Group of the Marine Corps Reserve for two years, retiring on July 1,
1956. By reason of his decorations, he
was entitled, on retirement, to promotion to the rank of brigadier general.
General
Card is a member of the American Legion Post Number 188 in Inglewood, a member
of the Temple City High Twelve, and is a Mason, belonging to Lodge Number 612
in Temple City. He is head of Masonic
Relief of San Gabriel Valley, comprising eighteen lodges, administering relief
to Masons who are not members of local lodges.
He is also a member and past president of the Pasadena Chapter of the
National Sojourners, a Masonic organization of military officers. He is a past president of the Los Angeles
Chapter of the Retired Officers’ Association and a member of the Marine Corps
Reserve Officers’ Association. General
Card is also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.
While
serving in Haiti in 1921, Horace Card met and married the former Miss Leona Leefe of New Orleans, the granddaughter of a general in the
Confederate Army. Mrs. Card is a member
of the Temple City Women’s Club. The
General and his wife have a son and a daughter:
Mrs. William C. (Gertrude Marie) Bowler of West Covina, who has two
children, Eric and Dorene; and Horace W., Jr., who is
a lieutenant colonel in the United States Marine Corps, stationed at Camp
Pendleton. He is commanding the 2nd
Battalion of the 11th Marine Regiment, in which his father served as
a sergeant in 1918. He and his wife, the
former Miss Garrison Good, daughter of Lieut. General Frank Good of the Marine
Corps, have four children: Geraldine,
Cheryl, Horace William III, and Patricia.
A
man of true military bearing, General Card has maintained an interest in
shooting, and holds a Distinguished Marksmanship Medal in both rifle and
pistol.
General
Card’s brother, Edson Card, was also an officer in the Regular Marine Corps;
their sister, Annis, was one of the first to join the
Women’s Army Corps, and also became an officer.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 561-564 , Historical Publ., Los Angeles,
California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES