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Like son, like father


Joy Burgess-Carrico

I’m continuing my discussion of World War II casualties from Wise County. Today, I present Lawrence Thomas Bulgarel.

Lawrence Thomas Bulgarel was born in Wise County in 1922 to Bruce and Susie Bulgarel.

His mother was born in Kaufman County, but was living in Wise by the time she was 9 years old.

His father was born Bruno Bulgarelli in Rome, Italy.

He immigrated with his family to the United States on the S.S. Canopic, arriving in Boston in January 1904. He was 10.

By June 15, 1910, he was living in Texas.

I do not know what brought him to Texas. In the 1910 census, he shows up in Boston, living with his family. He was 16 and employed as a scourer at a shoe factory where his father was a last puller.

There were a lot of different types of scourers at a shoe factory in 1910. There was the bottom scourer, the heel scourer, the scourer (no specific part of shoe designated), the shank scourer, tip scourer and top lift scourer. Barring further information, I take it he was a scourer, not otherwise specified. I’m guessing he cleaned the shoes really hard, as that is the definition of “scour.”

A “last” is a mold upon which a shoe is constructed, and a “last puller” pulls the last out of the shoe. He is not the last puller in a series of pullers to pull on a shoe, as I first believed.

So there you go, that’s your early 20th century cobblery lesson for today.

Polishing shoes must not have been very riveting, as Bulgarelli took off for Texas.

He married Susie Jamison in March 1918 and was a soldier at Camp Travis by August.

As a soldier, he applied to become a U.S. citizen, which was granted.

By the time we catch up with him in Wise County in the early 1920s, he’s going by the name Bruce Bulgarel.

I found no reference to Bulgarelli in the Messenger between 1910 and 1918.

When he became a U.S. citizen, he seems to have dropped his Italian roots. He stayed in touch with his relatives, but he was USA all the way.

Since he came to the U.S. when he was 10, it’s likely he didn’t have an Italian accent.

He was a very busy guy. He was active in social service. He owned several parts supply stores, one for autos, one for plumbing. He and his wife ran a boarding house. All while he served as the Decatur’s fire chief for decades.

Bruce and Susie had a daughter, then a son, both were raised in Wise County.

BULGAREL

Lawrence was a football star in high school.

“A defensive star for the Eagles that shone like a new dollar was that boy Lawrence Bulgarel,” reads a Nov. 2, 1939, Messenger. “In utter defiance of the 202-pound man playing opposite him, Bulgarel ripped through the Nocona line time after time to rush the passer, to give the punter fits, or to be the first man down on practically every punt … In short, ‘Bul’ put in his bid for all-district honors in no uncertain terms, without once thinking of such a thing.”

After high school, he attended North Texas Agricultural College in Arlington for a year, majoring in electrical engineering.

He enlisted in the army Jan. 20, 1942. A lot of people were enlisting at that time, I hear.

He started out at private, like everyone else, and worked his way up through the ranks over the course of the next two years.

In early January 1943, he was sent to the Army Air Forces Pre-Flight School for Pilots in Alabama. The following week, he was reported to be in Nashville, Tenn., at the Classification Center. “Bulgarel will take physical and psychological examinations to determine for which branch of aircrew service, bombardiering, navigating or piloting, he is best fitted.”

He received his wings in September, visited his parents in October and was sent overseas in November.

He was evidently physically and psychologically suited to be a waist gunner.

B-17G FORTRESS

Bulgarel was assigned to the 447th bomb group, 711th squadron. He was the right waist gunner in a Fortress B-17G bomber, serial No. 42-31204. If it had a nickname, which I’m sure it did, I don’t know it. I looked.

The crew compliment for the B-17G was 10: a pilot; co-pilot; navigator; bombardier; radio operator; top turret gunner; ball turret gunner; tail gunner; waist gunner left; and waist gunner right.

Bulgarel had been wounded on his 11th mission and received the Air Medal with clusters. His parents would ultimately receive the medal, because by the time it came, Bulgarel had been reported missing.

On Feb. 28, 1944, the Fortress took off for Noball, France to bomb a rocket installation site.

Just after they had bombed their target, the ship was hit by flak.

According to Clifford L. Hybarger, bombardier, “The ship was on fire directly beneath the pilot’s compartment around the oxygen supply. I was attempting to extinguish the blaze when I saw the navigator trying to remove his flak suit. He seemed to be having some difficulty. … While fumbling with his flak suit, he turned toward me and I interpreted his gesture as meaning that the pilot had given the order to bail out. I was standing by the passageway leading to the escape hatch with parachute attached, so immediately dived toward the door. I thought the navigator would be directly behind me.

“The next thing I knew, I was in a free fall approximately 5,000 feet above the ground. I did not know what had happened, but as my head was aching, I presumed that the ship had exploded. This was later confirmed by the two sergeants who escaped.”

Hybarger was injured in his escape from the Fortress and needed medical care. This precluded him from evading the enemy.

He was taken to a hospital, and after recovering, was transported to Stalag Luft I, a prisoner of war camp specifically for downed airmen.

While a POW, he learned from others who had witnessed the crash that a crew member had bailed out of the nose of the plane, and his chute was in flames. He believed it was the navigator.

Two others successfully bailed and were subsequently taken prisoner: Eric Hill, ball turret gunner; and Charlie E. Harris, tail gunner.

The last man to see Bulgarel alive was Sgt. Hill. He reported that Bulgarel was manning his gun and not wearing a parachute just before the ship exploded.

While a prisoner of war, Hybarger was approached by a fellow POW who said he had met a member of Hybarger’s crew while evading the Germans with the aid of the French underground. That crewmember, who was also being helped by the underground, was a sergeant and said he was from New York. The POW knew the details of Hybarger’s crew and their mission, which led Hybarger to believe him. He therefore reported that one of his crew might have evaded the enemy or died attempting to evade.

Since Hybarger was not a regular member of the crew, he didn’t know everyone’s name or where they were from, so he couldn’t provide more information than that.

Nothing came of this report. Besides the three men taken prisoner, all other members of the crew were determined to have died in the crash. Their remains, if there were remains, were buried in the Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France.

Whoever this evader was, he was probably not a member of Hybarger’s crew. No one on that crew was from New York.

Bulgarel’s parents were told in August 1944 that he had died. They had been informed that he was missing in late March.

“Bulgarel, 22, … wrote his parents a few days before he was reported missing that he had completed 25 missions and expected to be home soon,” reads a Messenger article.

It was policy to rotated heavy bomber crews out of combat service after 25 missions. In reality, it was a not that cut and dried. It was hard to pin down that 25th mission with changing crews, injuries, illness and leave.

Nevertheless, Bruce Bulgarel believed that the mission would have been his son’s last before being granted leave to come home. So close.

Bruce Bulgarel continued his service for the war effort. He was chairman of the Scrap and Salvage committee.

In April 1944, after his son was declared missing, a brief article appears in the Fort Worth Star Telegram about how “double B,” as he was sometimes called by the papers, fixed the flat tire of the blood donor bus in Decatur and refused any payment. “Anytime I can render the Red Cross a service it will be a privilege,” he said.

The Bulgarels lived on in Decatur after the death of their son. Bruce Bulgarel slowed down some, selling his businesses off slowly. He also took on elected positions for the city and county.

He died in 1961 of a heart attack in his home. It was several days before he was found. The papers don’t explain why he was alone for several days. His wife was still living and still his wife. I’m guessing she was visiting relatives.

She lived quite a while after him and stayed socially active, dying in 1985.

The Bulgarels were a big asset to Wise County in their time, they were civic-minded souls who gave to this community more than they took.

Despite their grief at the loss of their son, they didn’t skip a beat in continuing to serve.

Bruce Bulgarel started life in this country as an Italian immigrant. He worked hard and made a full-hearted commitment to his new home.

And he lived by it, despite what it cost him.

May Wise continue to attract such transplants.

Joy Burgess-Carrico is a Messenger graphic artist.

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