On This Day 76 Years Ago (19 June 1944)

The Battle of the Philippine Sea, AKA The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot

Flying an F6F Hellcat off the carrier USS Essex (CV-9) Lieutenant George Raines Carr of Bogalusa opened his scoring at 1025 hours on June 19, 1944 when he shot down, in just seventeen minutes, five Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) Yokosuka D4Y1 Suisei "Judy" Dive Bombers. On that mission, Carr became a select member of the "Ace-In-A-Day" Club and, for his actions, was awarded a Navy Cross. Returning to the carrier, George counted 17+ oil slicks from downed enemy planes, then had to give up, as there were too many.

The citation for Carr's Navy Cross award is as follows: "The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to George Raines Carr, Lieutenant (then Lieutenant, Junior Grade), US Navy, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as pilot of a carrier-based Navy Fighter Plane in Fighting Squadron Fifteen (VF-15) embarked from the USS Essex (CV-9), in action against major units of the Japanese Fleet during the First Battle of the Philippine Sea on 19 June 1944. During repeated attacks upon numerous enemy air groups, Lieutenant Carr pressed home vigorous counterattacks against the outnumbering enemy forces and, despite constant fighter opposition, shot down five of the enemy dive bombers and damaged many others thereby assisting materially in the total destruction by his squadron of sixty-seven enemy aircraft. By his superb airmanship and gallant fighting spirit he contributed to the defenses of our forces in the area and upheld the highest tradition of the United States Naval Service". Commander, Fast Carrier Task Force, Pacific - 3 August, 1944.


Today, the local airport in Bogalusa is dedicated and known as the George R. Carr Memorial Air Field.