Posted by xxxxxx on January 28, 2003:

Carl W. Schmidt, 76, president of insurance firm, Korea veteran By Frederick N. Rasmussen Sun Staff November 17, 2002 Carl W. Schmidt, president of a Baltimore insurance brokerage and a Korean War veteran, died of pancreatic cancer Monday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. He was 76. Mr. Schmidt, who maintained a sharp military bearing throughout his life, lived in The Orchards section of North Baltimore. He was born and raised in Mount Washington, and was a 1943 graduate of McDonogh School. "From an early childhood with my father's National Guard artillery battalion and its West Point advisor, I decided at the age of 10 to go to the United States Military Academy at West Point and become an artillery man. I did both and graduated with the Class of 1948," Mr. Schmidt wrote in a biographical sketch. But getting into West Point wasn't an easy task. "Because all the appointments to the academies had been made from Maryland, he went to Washington and walked the halls of the Capitol banging on congressmen's doors until he finally found one. A congressman from California had one appointment left, but the only stipulation was that he had to move to California," said his wife of 27 years, the former Virginia S. Miller. Mr. Schmidt moved to Huntington, Calif., with his grandmother, and attended the University of Southern California for a year before entering West Point in 1944. After earning his bachelor's degree and receiving his commission, Mr. Schmidt went to Korea in August 1951 and served with the 77th Artillery of the First Cavalry Division. "The ensuing 15 months was the ride of my life. From Taegu to Yalu, I fought in six of the Korean War's seven battles. Side assignments with the British and Greeks were more than interesting," he wrote in his sketch. "We were outnumbered at Pusan, and because Carl was a forward observer, he sat on a hill all night making sure the North Koreans didn't creep up on our positions," said D. Randall Beirne, a West Point classmate and retired University of Baltimore professor. "He was a very calm fellow who was never rattled. He was also a man of great principles," said retired Army Gen. Willard W. Scott, a classmate and former superintendent of West Point. Because of family illness, Mr. Schmidt resigned from the Army in 1953 with the rank of captain, returned to civilian life, and began a career in the insurance industry. He served in the Maryland National Guard as commanding officer and operating officer of the 1st Nike Battalion, 70th Artillery, from 1954 to 1962, when he was discharged with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He began working for United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. in Baltimore in 1953, and was appointed vice president of the fidelity and surety department of the Hartford Insurance Co. in Hartford, Conn. in 1961. Mr. Schmidt returned to Baltimore in 1965, becoming president of a small insurance agency, Hartman, McLean & Schmidt Inc., which he later acquired. Although he sold the business to its employees in 1986, he remained active as a senior insurance agent and risk manager, and had not retired. Mr. Schmidt was a member of many professional organizations. He also was a member of the Maryland Club, L'Hirondelle Club and the Wednesday Club. When cancer was diagnosed a month ago, Mr. Schmidt told his family, "I was afraid in the foxholes of Korea, but I'm not of death." "He lived his life by the Cadet Prayer, that says, 'May we always choose the harder right than the easier wrong," Mrs. Schmidt said. His first marriage ended in divorce. Mr. Schmidt was an active communicant of the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, 5603 N. Charles St., where a memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday. In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Dr. James M. Schmidt of Birmingham, Ala., and Douglas E. Schmidt of Baltimore; four daughters, Cynthia E. Schmidt of Boulder, Colo., Deborah A. Junk of Denver, E. Virginia Schmidt of Baltimore and Melanie A. Johnson of Potomac Falls, Va.; a sister, Joan Hale of Sykesville; and two grandchildren.

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