Hometown Hero - Bruce Carr

There were many astounding feats accomplished by flying aces throughout the course of the Second World War. Earning the title of "flying ace" is itself an impressive accolade, let alone the other feats these pilots achieved. One man, however, stands out for his odd, yet impressive distinction.

Bruce W. Carr, born in New York (Union Springs), was only 15 when the Second World War broke out in 1939. It was that year that he decided to learn how to fly, and three years later, on September 3, 1942, he enlisted in the US Army Air Forces. Given his prior training, he joined the service's accelerated training program, where he flew the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk.

By August 30, 1943, Carr was promoted to flight officer after accumulating an impressive 240 flight hours. He also completed special training, which qualified him to fly the North American P-51 Mustang and A-36 Apache. It was the P-51 that became his favored aircraft, and he called his Angels' Playmate.

Carr was deployed to England in 1944, where he joined the 380th fighter Squadron, 363rd Fighter Group, Ninth Air Force at RAF Rivenhall. He downed his (and his squadron's) first enemy aircraft by relentlessly chasing and shooting at it, forcing the Messerschmitt Bf 109 to fly into the ground. He wasn't credited for the kill, however, as he hadn't technically shot it down.

This action was considered "overaggressive" by Carr's commanders and earned him a reputation for being that kind of pilot. Ultimately, it led to his transfer to the 353rd Squadron, 354th fighter Group at RAF Lashenden.

It was on November 2, 1944 that Bruce Carr lost his favored P-510. He was leading a strafing mission against a German airfield in Czechoslovakia at the time. Knowing he wouldn't be able to keep his aircraft in the air, he bailed out behind enemy lines.

Impressively, he managed to stay undetected for multiple days.

Carr did his best to figure out how the Fw190 worked, despite the labels being written in German. He managed well enough and as soon as he was able to, took off without anyone making an effort to stop him or even appearing to notice.

Leaving German territory was the easy part, as his aircraft had German markings. It was returning to Allied airspace in France that proved to be difficult. Inevitably, he was shot at the moment he came back into his own airspace. In the hopes of making it back to base, Carr decided to fly as low as he could, as quickly as possible. This worked well enough, except by the time he arrived, he had no working radio.

Making a grand entrance, Carr landed on the field at the base, without lowering his landing gears, and slid to a stop. Some sources say he chose not to deploy them, while others claim he simply didn't know how.

It didn't take long for people to try dragging Carr, who was presumed to be a hostile German pilot, out of the cockpit. However, he was still strapped into his seat.

According to him, "I started throwing some good Anglo-Saxon swear words at them, and they let loose while I tried to get the seat belt undone. But my hands wouldn't work and I couldn't do it. Then they started pulling on me again because they still weren't convinced I was an American. I was yelling and hollering. Then, suddenly, they let go, and a face drops down into the cockpit in front of mine. It was my Group Commander: George R. Bickel."

Bickel had a simple question for his pilot, asking only, "Carr, where in the hell have you been, and what have you been doing now?" This daring escape didn't stop Carr from continuing to fly, and he served the rest of the war. By the end, he'd earned the distinction of triple ace and was given credit for 15 aerial victories over 172 combat missions.

After World War II came to an end, Bruce Carr remained with the US Army Air Forces as it became the US Air Force. Initially, he was assigned to fly the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star as part of the Acrojets, America's first jet-powered aerobatic demonstration team. They were stationed out of Williams Air Force Base, Arizona.

During the Korean War, the now Maj. Carr flew with the 336th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on an impressive 57 missions, before taking over as the commanding officer of the squadron between January 1955 and August 1956.

Promoted yet again, Col. Carr later served in the Vietnam War, where he flew with the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing out of the Tuy Hoa Air Base. He primarily flew on close air support missions in the North American F-100 Super Sabre, racking up a whopping 286 combat missions during his deployment.

In 1973, Carr retired from the Air Force. For his service in three wars, he was awarded an impressive number of medals, including the distinguished Service Cross, the Legion of Merit, the Silver Star, 31 Air Medals and four Distinguished Flying Crosses. In 1998, he passed away from prostate cancer and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Story written by Rosemary Giles, a history content writer with Hive Media.

Special Ceremony to Honor Unsung Heroines

In celebration of Women's History Month, the Frontenac Historical Society & Museum will be sponsoring a special ceremony to honor local unsung heroines, the Women of the American Legion Auxiliary and Chris Cummings Shattuck, on March 24th at 3pm at the museum, 178 Cayuga St. Union Springs. Cayuga County Historian Ruth Bradley will present Grangers, Gardeners, and Grassroots' Grandmas: Unsung Women Heroines. Much history is focused on the actions of great men or great women - people who made big splashes and whose legacies are cherished throughout generations. But it is also small actions that sustain and improve society, and none more so than the efforts of women in close-knit small town and farming communities. This talk will highlight some of these unsung heroines and the institutions - such as The Grange - that embody the best of collective activism.

The museum will unveil its newly created exhibit Forgotten Women's History which is the story of the suffrage movement from the perspective of the women who were actively involved in the movement as well as other important political issues of the times. Like the women being honored at this event, their names were not recorded in history books yet they demonstrate the power, initiative and influence of ordinary women living in a small town who had their say on important national issues despite their inability to vote.

This event is open and free to all.

An Unknown Hidden Hero - Charles G. Boley

Volunteering at the Frontenac is not only full of fun but full of surprises too, some of which can be found right before our eyes! Recently the museum was visited by Tony Gero, former teacher and military historian, who will be presenting a program at the Frontenac on November 10th at 2pm. While viewing an 1898 photo found in our collection and labeled as Civil War veterans, Tony noticed an African American soldier. This photo has been on display for many years in the Thomas Eldred Military History Room yet we had never noticed this soldier before and were intrigued. Could we identify him? (2nd Row Left)

A search of the 1890 Civil War Veterans Schedule revealed a Charles G. Boley living in Ledyard with his race listed as black. In searching the same record for Union Springs, we found no other African American listed. We found him! Now to find his story.

Looking at the 1892 Federal Census, the same Charles G. Boley is living in Ledyard as a single man working as a day laborer. The 1900, 1905 and 1910 censuses of Springport recorded him as now married to Sarah (in 1898), living in a home they owned on the Lake Road (present day Route 90) and name spelled as Bollie, to be located just south of the hamlet of Hamburg behind the present day home of Joe and Linda DeCaro. This area was known as Hamburg, home to several active stone quarries which would fit with his employment as a day laborer.

We next turned to the pages of the Union Springs Advertiser and several Auburn newspapers of this period and found that Charles, together with Springport Civil War veterans James Hammond, Alexander Chambers, John Murphy and Abe Thompson, had participated in an 1893 celebration held in Waterloo, the birthplace of Memorial Day. We also learned that in 1910 he moved from Union Springs to the National Veterans Home in Marion, Indiana where he died in 1913 due to a cerebral hemorrhage. The records of this home revealed much more about Boley. He was 5.5 feet tall, gray haired, disabled and single. It looks like there may be another story for another day as his closest relative is shown to be a cousin in Geneseo, not his wife Sarah.

A closer look at the 1890 Veterans schedule showed Boley had enlisted in Rochester in 1883, serving for 5 years with Company C of the 10th New York Cavalry, 97th Regiment, United States Colored (sic) Infantry well past the Civil War era. As we were unable to find him in the Civil War muster rolls of this unit, we realized that Charles was a proud veteran, not of the Civil War, who shared his love of his country with other veterans.

Charles's unit was founded as a segregated African American unit, one of the original "Buffalo Soldier" regiments formed in the post-war regular army. Boley was discharged at Ft. Grant, AZ confirming that he had indeed served, not in the Civil War, but as a Buffalo Soldier. Ft. Grant was founded along a trail often used by Apache fleeing Mexico. Its purpose was to stop marauding bands of Apache from attacking New Mexico and Arizona, the campaign ending with surrender of Geronimo in 1886. During Boley's last years at Ft. Grant, he would have participated in civil duties such as pursuing train robbers and other outlaws.

The 1920 and 1930 Springport censuses confirmed that his wife, Sarah, remained in Springport. The Union Springs Advertiser reported that in 1927 Sarah broke her wrist after falling off a porch while chasing a runaway spool of thread she was using while sewing. No further records have been found for Sarah.

While Charles's efforts as a Buffalo Soldier were heroic and protected the lives of settlers in the westward expansion, we can't help but reflect on the paradox of African American soldiers fighting native people for a government which did not accept either group as equals. As we near the close of Black History Month, we are excited to share the story of Charles G. Boley, a hero hidden no more.