Former Army commando, Macon city councilman and mayor: David Carter dies at 90

He served as an Army commando in the Korean War, led the largest single JROTC unit in the nation and served as a Macon city councilman and mayor.

David Carter, 90, died Saturday.

Carter, a native of Greenville, South Carolina, enlisted in the Army after he graduated from high school, and he became a soldier in the 122 member commando unit formed by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, according to Telegraph archives.

As a volunteer commando in the First Army Raider Company in the Korean War, he received specialized training from the Marines and British commandos and performed specialized missions during the war.

He also served as an officer in the infantry, in intelligence training and operations units and received training in nuclear weapons.

In an article collecting soldiers’ experiences of the Korean War, Carter said he could vividly recall walking on the dirt paths as a 19-year-old soldier and the sub-zero temperatures during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir.

“I guess I wasn’t thinking about the big picture then- I was trying to save a country,” he said. “No one enjoys war, but I learned fairness, work ethics and that you can do more than you think you can under the right circumstances and with the right attitude.”

His way to Macon

Carter moved to Macon in 1962 after the Army assigned him to Lanier High School as a professor of military science.

Although he retired from the Army in 1968, he stayed at Lanier, and later Central High School, as the instructor for the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. He retired from Central in 1990

His political career began in 1973 when he won an election to fill an unexpired term on the Macon City Council.

Two years later, he ran for mayor, but he lost the election to Buck Melton.

In 1977, Carter won another seat on the city council. He served for 17 years on city council, and seven of those years he served as city council president. He was also the chairman of the appropriations committee during Mayor George Israel’s tenure.

In February 1994, Carter said he was considering running against Mayor Tommy Olmstead in the 1995 city elections, but 11 months later, he was given the opportunity to serve as mayor without an election.

Olmstead announced he would resign in mid-January 1995 to head the state Department of Human Resources, and Carter, as city council president, would take over the rest of Olmstead’s term.

“I can count the number of people I really trust on the fingers of my right hand and Dave Carter is one of them,” said then-councilman Theron Ussery, a close friend of Carter’s, about Carter’s ascent to mayor. “We don’t always see eye-to-eye, but you know where he’s coming from. I appreciate that.”

He ran for mayor in the 1995 election, but he lost to the Democratic candidate, Jim Marshall.

His legacy

Macon-Bibb County Commissioner Elaine Lucas served with Carter as a city councilwoman for around 15 years, she said.

He paid close attention to details, was very direct and made sure everyone had their questions answered, she said.

“The one thing that I remember about him is his commitment. There was never a question as to whether he was committed to what he felt was right for citizens, and he was a strong advocate for doing what was right,” she said.

Although Lucas was labeled a “frequent critic” of Carter in The Telegraph in 1994, she said they both understood the needs of their individual constituencies and tried to represent them in the best way they could.

When Carter became mayor, Lucas said they worked together to create the Youth Enrichment Services program, which placed police officers in homes in different neighborhoods. The officers were required to implement programs with the youth in the neighborhoods in order to receive free housing, she said.

“Even though we disagreed on many issues both nationally and locally, we were able to pull together and come up with a common goal which was to reduce crime in neighborhoods and to bring the police closer to the people that they were sworn to protect and serve,” she said.

When Carter retired from the Bibb County School District, a monument was erected naming the Central High School Drill field in his honor, according to his obituary.

Lt. Col. Kevin Harvey, the Senior Army Instructor at Central High School, said in a statement that the Central High School Army Junior Officer Training Corps gives their condolences to the family of Carter and that they are thankful for his service.

“Major Carter was a trailblazer, that adhered to the JROTC mission, ‘Motivate young people to be better citizens.’ Through his leadership, the program has produced several prominent citizens that have served in the civilian sector as well as the military. We appreciate the sacrifice that Major Carter made by starting the AJROTC program at Central High School,” Harvey said in the statement.

The Community Foundation of Central Georgia also has the Major David L. Carter Scholarship Fund.

Carter and his wife, Martha, continued to be very active in civic organizations after Carter retired from public service, Lucas said.

When Lucas found out about Carter’s passing, she said she thought about the most recent conversation she had with him and his wife. They called her one day to encourage her to continue serving the county, she said.

“That meant an awful lot, especially since we had disagreed on so many issues while we were serving together, for them to follow me and to keep up with issues that I’ve supported, and then to say that they thought I was doing a good job, that meant an awful lot,” she said. “That was the Carters. They were very supportive and encouraging.”

This story was originally published July 20, 2021 at 5:00 AM.