Captain Carraher was the pilot of a F-80C Shooting Star fighter interceptor with the 9th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 49th Fighter Bomber Group. On 26 December 1950, while on a combat mission over the northwest section of Pyongyang, North Korea, his aircraft received a direct hit by anti-aircraft fire, crashed and exploded. He was listed as Missing in Action and was presumed dead on 5 December 1951. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Carraher was awarded the Air Medal with 14 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Purple Heart, 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.