Joseph Gerald Cyr (1924-1996)
Biography
Joseph Gerald Cyr was born in Old Town on May 10, 1924 to Albert G. Cyr and Antoinette LaForest and baptized as Gerald Joseph Cyr. He graduated from Old Town High School in 1942.[1] On July 25 of the same year, he enlisted in the Army Air Force under the name of Joseph Gerald Cyr and went by that order of his given names for the rest of his live. In fact, in his early Air Force years he was known as "Little Joe" as he was only 5' 3" tall.
On June 28, 1945 he married Marion Doris Roma (1927-1992), who had just graduated from Old Town High School earlier that year and whose entry in the yearbook even refers to Joseph/Gerald.[2] After the war was over, they remained in Old Town and in 1946 Joseph used his GI-bill to enroll at the University of Maine, from which he graduated with a degree in *** in 1949. By then, three children had been born as well. The next year, Joseph re-enlisted and joined the US Air Force as a jet pilot. Initially, Marion and the children (with one more addition) lived on Sixth Street in Old Town, but by the mid-1950s the family had settled in Fort Walton Beach (FL), home of the Eglin Air Force Base. After his retirement in 1970, Joseph and Marion remained in the Fort Walton Beach area. Joseph died in Fort Walton Beach on October 18, 1996 and is buried in that town's Beal Memorial Cemetery.[3]
Military Service
Joseph enlisted in the US Air Force in Bangor on July 25, 1942 (five days after his brother Edmund did). On August 5, 1943, he graduated from Army Air Forces Bombardier School at Midland Army Air Field in Texas and was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant. For much of 1944, he appears to have been attached to the 735th Bomb Squadron of the 453rd Bomb Group based at Old Buckenham Airbase in England and flying B-24 bomber missions into Germany as a bombardier.[4] On March 6, Joseph made waves as his plane, the "Lillie Belle", was forced to ditch in the North Sea on return from a mission to Genshagen near Berlin and he was the only one of the crew of ten men to survive. His story was written up by Canadian war reporter and novelist Lionel S. B. Shapiro (1908-1958) and printed in newspapers all over the country.[5] In July of that same year, Joseph was promoted to First Lieutenant.[6] In January 1945, after retraining at Keesler Air Force Base (MS), he is scheduled to be sent to Caspar (WY) as bombardiers instructor. Presumably this was his duty until the end of the war.[7] There does not seem to be a record for his discharge date.
Notes
- ↑ Sachem 1942, p. 9.
- ↑ Sachem 1945, p. 26.
- ↑ See Find-a-Grave. Memorial for Joseph G. Cyr
- ↑ See https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/person/joseph-g-cyr and his mailing address as listed on p.16 of the Penobscot Times of August 4, 1944
- ↑ The Penobscot Times put an adaptation of the version that was published by the Boston Globe on its front page. See PT19440428, OTPL-DA.
- ↑ See PT19440707, OTPL-DA
- ↑ See PT19450105, OTPL-DA.
References
- "Little Joe Cyr of Old Town Top Hero at British Base". The Penobscot Times. Vol. 57, no. 8. 1944-04-28. p. 1.
- "Joseph G. Cyr Now First Lieut.". The Penobscot Times. Vol. 57, no. 18. 1944-07-07. p. 13.
- "Personals". The Penobscot Times. Vol. 57, no. 44. 1945-01-05. p. 13.
- The Sachem (= Old Town High School Yearbook). 1942.
- The Sachem (= Old Town High School Yearbook). 1945.
