Carl Henry Wiggs was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on 1 December, 1925, the youngest of 4 children. He attended Missionary Ridge Grammar , Brainerd Junior High , and Central High Schools, all in Chattanooga. Carl Wiggs was sworn into military service at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia in 1944. Shipping overseas on January 1, 1945 aboard the Queen Mary from New York harbor. Carl served as a rifleman in Patton's Third Army, as a member of Company A of the 50th Armored Infantry Battalion, 6th Armored Division. He experienced his first combat soon after in the vicinity of Bastogne, Belgium, followed by action in Luxembourg during the Allied reduction of the Bulge. He finished the war in Tauton, England, finally returning to the US in 1947. He was awarded the Purple Heart Medal and the Bronze Star. After the war, Carl Sr. took advantage of the GI Bill, eventually retiring to Montgomery, Alabama, where he currently resides.