Carl J. Mula

When war was declared, Carl Mula, like his brother and his friends, wanted to join the Marines, but was turned down because of his eyesight. Instead he was accepted by the U.S. Army Air Corps and at the age of 21, he left his young bride and began training as a flight engineer on a B24 Liberator. Carl was part of the 10-man crew of The Ruptured Duck with the 466 Bomb Group, 787 Bomb Squad, flying out of northern England. They completed 16 missions before the B24 crash-landed after being hit by enemy fire. Carl has vivid memories of the Buzz Bombs over London, his severe injuries, the untimely death of Major Louis Weiser, the pilot of The Ruptured Duck, and his year-long hospitalizations, both overseas and in New York. Carl is a recipient of the Purple Heart with three clusters.