Free Honoring Sergeant Carter by Allene Carter Page A

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    F ollowing the defeat of the Loyalists, Eddie returned to Los Angeles in 1940. By then Evangelist Carter and his wife were also in Los Angeles, having been forced to flee China because of the Japanese onslaught. By chance Eddie met his father on the street one day, but the two men had little to say to each other. Eddie steered clear of the old man and his wife. He was on his own now, supporting himself with odd jobs, and amusing himself with the vibrant night life to be found in the Central Avenue area.
    Central Avenue was the heart of the rapidly growing Los Angeles black community. Day and night the streets were crowded with people, and for young men like Eddie there was no lack of exciting things to do. Jazz clubs like Club Alabam’ were hotspots that throbbed with music and dancers every night. Lena Horne, Paul Robeson, and other top black performers entertained enthusiastic audiences at the Shriners Temple and other venues. Young NAACP activists met regularly at the YMCA at 28th and Central to organize a campaign for better parts for black actors in Hollywood films. Good food and good times could be found at Ella’s Café and the many other thriving restaurants that lined the avenue.

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    It was on one of his outings that Eddie encountered and quickly fell in love with Mildred Hoover, the widowed daughter of a black family well known in the community. They met at a restaurant that was popular with young people. A strikingly beautiful woman, Mildred dressed stylishly and gave the impression of being a culturedyoung woman—which she was. She caught his eye right away. Eddie himself was very handsome with a youthful, debonair presence. Clean-cut and meticulous about his dress, he wasn’t a tall man. He had a compact, athletic build, and he carried himself with the ease and confidence of someone who had seen much of the world. Using the charm that came easily to him, he introduced himself and they talked, each taken with the other. Mildred told him that her family ran a boardinghouse. Eddiesaid he was interested in finding a nice place to stay. She took him to see the boardinghouse and meet her parents.
    Mildred’s mother, Maycola, came from New Orleans, where Mildred was born. Mildred never knew her father. Her mother had married James Jennings shortly after arriving in Los Angeles. Her mother was a maid for a white judge, and Jennings worked for another white family. Hardworking and frugal, they saved their money and soon acquired the boardinghouse where Eddie met them.
    Eddie was in awe of Mildred. Not only was she beautiful, but she was a cultured person—a violinist who as a girl played at major churches and was well known in the black middle-class community as a parlor room performer. She went on to become the first black violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Eddie desired her, but she seemed unattainable to him. As he later wrote in a letter to her: “The first time I saw you, you scared the daylights out of me. You were what I wanted and didn’t hope to get…. I was darn lucky to get you.”
    Attracted not only by Mildred but by the warm atmosphere he found at her parent’s boardinghouse, a modest frame house on East 22nd Street, Eddie took a room. Mildred’s family became his family. Eddie especially adored Mr. Jennings, a sweet, gentle man. He was the father Eddie felt he had never had.
    William, Eddie’s brother, was living in New York but soon joined the Army. Eddie’s sister, Miriam, who wasalso living in Los Angeles, moved into the boardinghouse for a short time. Miriam worked at a drugstore and was something of a naughty party girl. Once when Eddie knocked on her door, she greeted him with “Hello fella. What’s it going to be, tricks or treats?” Eddie was annoyed by what he considered her “wild” behavior. On the other hand, Mildred, an only