First Lt. Edward T. McGuire, a graduate in 1939 of Mount Carmel High School, the Carmelite school in Chicago, died on Aug. 1, 1943, when his B-24 Liberator bomber went down near Ploiesti, Romania, during Operation Tidal Wave in World War II. His plane was hit by flack and, even with wounded crew members, they pressed on to their bomb targets. To allow the crew to bale out, the pilots increased the plane's altitude. The plane then crashed.
Lt. McGuire was only 22 years old. While his death was presumed when he did not make it back to the Allied base following the operation, his remains were only recovered in 2017, which began a multi-year identification process.
On a recent Saturday, 80 years after his death, Lt. McGuire was laid to rest at Holy Sepulchre Catholic Cemetery, following a memorial mass at Most Holy Redeemer Church. Representatives from the U.S. Department of Defense, police and fire departments, hundreds of community members and dozens of veterans came to pay their respects.
Lt. McGuire is one of 58 Mount Carmel alumni who died while serving in the Second World War.
