[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 38 (Monday, March 30, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E510]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       IN HONOR OF MR. CARL VAIL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL P. FORBES

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 30, 1998

  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, rare is the occasion when one person so 
defines the character of a place, but I stand here today reflecting on 
just such a man, Mr. Carl Vail, of Southold, Long Island, New York. A 
man of great dignity and integrity, someone who held dear his Long 
Island home and served his country with special distinction, Carl Vail 
was someone that made you feel proud to be an American. That is why it 
is with great sadness that I inform my colleagues in the U.S. House of 
Representative of the passing of Carl Vail, at 102 years of age, on 
Thursday, March 12, 1998.
  Born on August 12, 1895, Carl Vail lived his life as a reflection of 
the view that our national and familial legacy are gifts to nurture and 
pass on to our sons and daughters. The Vails are one of Long Island's 
and America's oldest families, having served and protected this land 
since the early 1700's. A Vail has fought in nearly every American 
conflict since the French and Indian War. Just last year, Carl 
discovered that he was a descendant of Christopher Vail who fought in 
the Revolutionary War. His own son Everett Flew B-24s in World War II 
and his seven grandsons served during the Vietnam conflict.
  That tradition of service and patriotism ran deep in Carl Vail, who 
left the family's Southold farm to join the U.S. Army in December of 
1917 and served his country in World War I. Carl was wounded in combat 
a month before the war ended after an enemy mustard-gas attack in 
France's Argonne Forest. Due to lost paperwork and a modest regard for 
his own heroic service to our country, Carl did not receive his Purple 
Heart until 1982. Until he passed away, Carl Vail was one of two dozen 
surviving World War I veterans living in Suffolk County.
  After courageously serving his country, Carl returned to Southold, 
where he and his brother started a Hupmobile franchise, the beginning 
of an automobile sales business that lasted nearly 70 years. 
Generations of East Enders purchased their cars from Vail Brothers in 
Southold, Vail Motors in Riverhead and Seavale Motors in Southampton, 
dealerships that sold 20 different makers of cars, from Packards to 
Hudsons to Model T Fords.
  I am proud to have come to know Carl during my service as a Member of 
the Congress representing Brookhaven, Smithtown and the five East End 
towns of Suffolk County. Born and raised in the same East End 
community, I can tell you that Carl Vail was the epitome of Eastern 
Long Island: friendly, proud, independent-minded and loyal to the core 
of this place to which the Vail family was such an integral part.
  Carl Vail was a spirited man who cared about our community and 
participated in it to the last hours of his 102 years. May God bless 
and keep him. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him and all who 
so dearly love the East End.

   Carl Vail, WWI Veteran, Dies--Southold Family's Legacy of Service

                           (By George DeWan)

       The Vail family name is one of Long Island's oldest, and a 
     Vail has fought in most of America's wars going back to the 
     French and Indian War in the mid-1700s.
       On Thursday, Carl Vail of Southold, who was gassed as an 
     infantryman in France in World War I and was one of about two 
     dozen surviving World War I veterans in Suffolk County, died 
     at 102. He passed away at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center 
     in Northport after an eight-month illness.
       Vail was best known on the East End for the automobile 
     dealerships he founded: Vail Brothers Inc. in Southold, Vail 
     Motor Corp. in Riverhead and Seavale Motors in Southampton. 
     He had sold 20 makes of cars--including Packard, Willys, 
     Nash, Hudson, Maxwell and Model T Ford--and became one of the 
     top dealers in eastern Suffolk.
       Born in Peconic on Aug. 12, 1895, Vail was 22 when he was 
     drafted in 1917. He was a farmer at the time, but was in love 
     with the water. ``I wanted to get in the Navy,'' he said in 
     an interview with Newsday last year. ``They said they'd take 
     me only as a ship's cook.'' He didn't want to be a cook, so 
     he went to the draft board in December, 1917.
       Vail was a member of the Army's 77th, known as the Rainbow 
     Division, which trained at Camp Upton in Brookhaven. He was 
     hospitalized after an enemy mustard-gas attack in France's 
     Argonne Forest in early October, 1918, a month before the war 
     ended. After a number of governmental paperwork snafus, he 
     was awarded the Purple Heart in 1982.
       ``My son, Everett, was a B-24 pilot in World War II,'' he 
     has said. ``He did 35 missions over Germany and came home 
     without a scratch. During the Vietnam War, I had seven 
     grandsons in the service.'' Vail learned only last year that 
     he was a descendant of Revolutionary War soldier Christopher 
     Vail.
       Vail first learned to drive in a 1905 Pierce Arrow, and 
     cars became a hobby, then a business. In 1919, he and his 
     brother got a Hupmobile franchise, the beginning of an 
     automobile sales business that grew and grew, lasting until 
     1983, when he retired at 88.
       ``In '27 I brought an acre of potato land for $8,000,'' he 
     said. ``We built a garage, and I built up a $100,000 business 
     in a little town.''
       ``When World War II started, most car dealers went out of 
     business,'' Vail's grandson, Carl III, said yesterday. ``He 
     went out and bought a lot of cars. He once told me he was 
     either going to go bankrupt or make a lot of money. After the 
     war, he had a lot of cars, and he made a lot of money.''
       Vail helped found chapters of the American Legion in 
     Mattituck and Southold. He was a life member of Eastern Long 
     Island Hospital, a member of the Southold Universalist 
     Church, the Southold Rotary Club and the East End Surf and 
     Fishing Club.
       Vail is survived by three children: Mary Hart of Southold, 
     Virginia Bard of New York City and C. Everett Vail of 
     Malabar, Fla.
       Cremation was private. A memorial service will be held 3 
     p.m. Sunday, May 3, at the Universalist Church in Southold.

     

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