Stuart Carr was born January 18, 1925, the son of Norman McLeod Carr and Florence May (nee Wellington) Carr, of London Road, Sarnia. Stuart’s father, Norman, was a well-known Sarnia Township dairyman. Stuart had four brothers: James (born 1922, who was a Lieutenant with the Royal Canadian Artillery and overseas at the time of Stuart’s death); David (born 1928); Donald and Douglas. The Carr family also included Stuart’s three sisters–Catherine May (born 1920), Dorothy May (born 1926) and Barbara Jean (born 1933). Stuart attended S.S. No. 5 school in Sarnia Township. Since so many of the Carr family attended the school, it was, according to Myra, known as the “Carr School.” Stuart then attended Sarnia Collegiate. He also joined the Young Usher’s Club and the choir of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, where he also joined the hockey team.

Stuart Carr enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in January 1943. After training at Toronto, Brandon and Winnipeg, he graduated in September 1943 as an air gunner in Western Canada (#3 B. and G. School). He became a member of RCAF #1679 Heavy Conversion Unit, with the rank of Sergeant Air Gunner. In early November of 1943, parents Norman and Florence in Sarnia received a telegram from Stuart who let them know that he had arrived safely overseas. Only three months later, Stuart Carr would lose his life. In the interval and assignment in Scotland, Stuart at one point became homesick. His officers didn’t know what to do with him, so he was sent to a family in Scotland on leave to get well.

Only three months after arriving overseas, on January 23, 1944, the Lancaster aircraft DS839 in which Stuart Carr was a crew member, was engaged in a night training exercise when it crashed at Ridgemont, Bedfordshire, England. In late January of 1944, Norman and Florence Carr would receive this notification from the RCAF Casualty Officer at Ottawa about their son, Sergeant Stuart Allan Carr: Deeply regret to advise that your son, R209938, Sergt. Stuart Allan Carr, was killed on active service overseas January 23. Please accept my profound sympathy. Letter follows. Perishing with Stuart Carr were FS’s F.W. MacDonald, J.J. Farrell, and L.I. Hogan; F/O. R.W. Grosser; and two of the crew, not Canadians. In late January of 1944, parents Norman and Florence Carr in Sarnia would receive another telegram from the R.C.A.F. Casualty Officer at Ottawa regarding the funeral of their son. The message read, Funeral of son, Sergeant Stuart Allan Carr, takes place at 2:30 p.m. January 28, at Cambridgeshire, England. A letter will follow. Stuart Carr would later be officially listed as, Killed in flying accident, overseas (England). Nineteen year old Stuart Carr is buried in Cambridge City Cemetery, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, Grave 13551A. On Stuart Carr’s headstone are inscribed the words, He died that others might live.

SOURCES: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, L, M, N, R, 2C, 2D