Robert Carr was born in 1925 in Salem, Massachusetts.

His parents, James J. Carr and Myrtle Millett were born in Massachusetts and married in Marblehead, MA in 1921. Robert was the third of eight children.

Robert enlisted in the US Navy Reserves on August 3, 1943 when he was 17 years old. He received training in the US and then went to England for further trading specific to the Normandy Invasion.

Robert was assigned to be a crewman on LCF-31 (Landing Craft Flak) LCF was an LCT that had been modified to carry anti-aircraft guns that could be used against German aircraft that might threaten the invasion.

On June 6, 1944 LCF-31 was approaching Omaha Beach about 800 years offshore when it was hit and sank. Records differ on whether it struck a mine or was hit by German artillery firing from shore. Coast Guard craft picked up 18 survivors from the 72 men on board.

Seaman 2c Robert Carr was listed as listing in action or lost at sea. He was declared dead while missing of July 7, 1945.

S2c Robert Carr was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. He is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing, Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France.

References:

Survivor account - https://www.northernexpress.com/news/feature/lucky-larry-lampton-75-years-after-d-day/

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?q=Robert+carr

https://www.fold3.com/record/529908913/american-battle-monuments-commission-robert-carr

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.