Following the United States entry into World War I, Carpell was inducted into the United States Army on December 1, 1917. He was assigned to the Pilot Aviation Section and transferred to Berkeley, California, and then Dallas, Texas for training. Carpell attained the rank of second lieutenant, Aviation Section, Signal Corps, US Army, and received his commission as aviation combat pilot following his graduation from the School of Military Aeronautics at Columbus, Ohio. On January 1, 1918, he announced his engagement to Beatrice Merriam of Detroit. In October 1918, he died of a cause variously reported as heart failure or pneumonia following an outbreak of Spanish influenza while serving at Payne Field in West Point, Mississippi.[4][5] In November 1921, a bronze memorial tablet was unveiled at Michigan's football stadium to honor Carpell and three other Michigan football players who died while serving in World War I. The others included Curtis Redden and Efton James.[6]
↑"In Honor of Michigan's 'M' Men Who Died In The War". The Michigan Alumnus. November 1921. p.200.(a fourth Michigan letterman, Howard R. Smith, was also killed in the war, but he was not a varsity football player.
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