DuPont Alley Cat

The Alley Cat

1st Lt. John E, Bakalar, U. S. A. A. F.
(1920 - 1944)
353rd Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Group

1st LT. JOHN EDMUND BAKALAR
U. S. A. A. F.
353rd Fighter Sqdn. - 354th Fighter G.
Born August 29, 1920
Killed In Action September 1, 1944

The East Chicago Works has sent many men to the armed services to help save civilization. At present there are 160 on active duty somewhere. Their duty takes them to the four corners of the earth and on most of the seven seas. They are our representatives and we are mightily proud of them. But what we have been hoping against unanimously and perhaps futilely has come to pass. We have lost one of our boys. Our first fatality of this war. Would that it were the last, but no, others will join him ere the tragedy ends. C'est la guerre !

On September 1, 1944 John Edmund Bakalar, known to us all with his cheerful smile and willing nature as "Moe", a First Lieutenant Fighter Pilot in our Air Forces was killed inaction somewhere over France, the county he was helping to free from tyranny and injustice. God grant his efforts are part of a successful mission.

We all remember "Young Buck". He was only 24. He was an electrician apprentice, first class, and rapidly becoming adept in his craft. He soon would have been a full fledged electrician, and a good one too. Everybody liked "Young Buck". He was nice to have around. He enjoyed life. He loved to live. A letter from him, in another section of this Alley Cat, simply breathes action and accomplishment. You could never say of "Young Buck" that he didn't carry his share of the load, and more too, if someone needed help.

"Young Buck" graduated from the Hammond, Indiana High School and attended the University of Idaho before his work here at the East Chicago Works. He received his basic training at the Ryan School of Aeronautics at San Diego, California, transferring to Mather Field, California for further training. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant and received his Pilot wings in October, 1942 at Luke Field, Phoenix, Arizona, where he then became an instructor in an officers' training unit. He joined a Special Mustang (P-51) fighter group in March 1944 and was sent overseas to England in May, 1944 where he received additional training.

On the eve of "D-Day" he was assigned to the 9th Air Force pioneer P-51 Mustang fighter groups and since the invasion had dive bombed and strafed targets in support of Allied ground troops in France. He was awarded the Air Medal with three oak-leaf clusters for successfully completing 45 combat missions and his Fighter Squadron received the Presidential Unit Citation.

Our sympathy, and more than that, goes out from us to his mother, Mrs. Marie Bakalar, his wife Mrs. Dorothea Bakalar and his two children, one of whom he had never seen, and his sister, Mrs. J. V. McLaughlin. And we all know that if "Old Buck" were still here he would have been proud in his sorrow.