Robert Carr has turned his passion for research about the Mainers who died in World War II into a resource for families.
Carr, a South Portland resident who served in the Marine Corps, created the Web site Maine Gave Many — www.mainegavemany.com — as a tribute and a searchable list of many of the 2,500 Mainers who died in the war.
Now he’s added the names of Maine residents listed in the War Department’s missing air crew reports.
The reports, from two pages to 60, detail the last known sightings of an aircraft, radio transmissions and other information.
For example, the report on 2nd Lt. Rosaire Bilodeau, a bomber co-pilot, describes how he refused to leave his pilot and tried to regain control of the aircraft, telling the engineer to bail out.
Albeo Charette bailed out over the coast of France after the plane caught fire during a bombing run, then drowned.
Carr relied on researchers who had created searchable databases of all the missing air crew reports, then went hunting for any mention of Mainers.
Carr lists the names of the men on whom he found reports and the serial numbers of the planes they were in as a reference.
“Family members can go through that list, and if they see a name on there, they contact me and I’ll send them the information,” he said.
He said he was not comfortable posting the details online because some research sites charge a fee for the information.
Carr said he just wants to make sure it is available, for family members and for posterity. As people discover it, he is often able to add details.
The site, he said, helps preserve the stories of those who sacrificed their lives, which might be lost or ignored otherwise.
Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:
dhench@pressherald.com
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