Corporal Carothers was a member of Battery B, 955th Field Artillery Battalion. He was critically injured when he was caught between two trucks at Munan-ni, North Korea, and evacuated to the 8063rd Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) where he died on 9 September 1951.

Carothers was awarded the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.