Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Carringers in the News -- Lt. James R. Carringer Dies in Airplane Crash in 1943

It's time for another edition of "Carringers in the News" - a weekly feature from the historical newspapers about persons with the surname Carringer (my mother's maiden surname) that are interesting, useful, mysterious, fun, macabre, or add information to my family tree database.

This week's entry is from The Allentown [Penn.] Morning Call newspaper dated 19 January 1943:

The transcription of the article is:

"Lt. James Carringer, former Lehigh Golf Star, Killed in Plane Crash

"Friends in Bethlehem on Monday received news of the death of James Raymond Carringer Jr., member of the 1939 class of Lehigh university and captain of the golf team in that year which achieved a notable record in intercollegiate ranks.

"His father, James Raymond Carrimger, general manager of the Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey, was notified by the War Department that he was killed in a plane accident in Hawaii on Jan. 14.

"Lieutenant Carringer was a bombardier on a Christmas eve raid on Wake Island.  For his part he was awarded the Army air medal.

"Formerly of 1028 N. Broad St., Elizabwth, N.J., he entered Lehigh after attending the Staunton military academy in Virginia and was a member of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity.  For some time he had been stationed at the Midland army flying school in Midland, Texas."

The source citation is:

"Lt. James Carringer, former Lehigh Golf Star, Killed in Plane Crash," The Morning Call [Allentown, Penn.] newspaper, obituary, Tuesday, 19 January 1943, page 5, column 3, James Raymond Carringer obituary notice;  Newspapers.com   (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 22 March 2021).

James Raymond Carringer, Jr. was born 20 October 1917 in Madsino County, Illinois to James Raymond and Roberta (Laughlin) Carringer.  He was unmarried.

I am a third cousin  once removed to James Raymond Carringer, Jr.  Our common ancestors are my 3rd great-grandparents Henry Carringer (1800-1879) and Sarah Feather (1804-1848). 

There are hundreds of Carringer "stories" in my family tree - and this was one of them.   Life happens, accidentally and intentionally, and sometimes a person serves his country and dies as a result. I am glad that I can honor James Raymond Carringer, Jr. today.  

You never know when a descendant or relative will find this blog post and learn something about their ancestors or relatives, or will provide more information about them to me.

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Disclosure:  I have a complimentary subscription to Newspapers.com and have used it extensively to find articles about my ancestral and one-name families.

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2021/03/carringers-in-news-lt-james-r-carringer.html

Copyright (c) 2021, Randall J. Seaver

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1 comment:

Randy Seaver said...

I received this on 12/15/2021 from the Historian of the 307th Bombardment Group:

Lt. Carringer participated in the 307th Bombardment Group of the 382nd Bombardment Squadron's historic Christmas Eve 1942 raid on Wake Island just 2 weeks before his death.  The 307th BG staged through Midway Island for this combat mission.  All 27 B-24 Bombers returned safely to Midway with no losses to personnel, having set a distance record for a heavy bomber's raid.  Wake Island was thoroughly destroyed.  Though his WWII deployment was brief, Lt. Carringer's contribution to the war effort could not have been more significant and he was aware of the resounding success of this mission prior to his death.  He was decorated upon his return to Hawaii by Admiral Nimitz.  He was a true war hero.     This past March, the Smithsonian Channel aired an "Air Warriors"  B-24 Bomber episode depicting the 307th BG's raid on Wake Island.  Though there were many inaccuracies, they got the gist of it correct. 

https://307bg.net/data/documents/307thWakeHONOLULUPaper.pdf

https://307bg.net/data/missionreports/1942/22dec42_WakeMission-371bs.pdf