Bazooka Charlie

ISBN: 978-0-7643-6636-9

Editor’s Note: The editors of The Book Light were made aware of the publishing of this book via press surrounding its release. Subsequently, Schiffer Publishing–the publisher of the book–was contacted to inquire about a Reviewer’s Copy. Schiffer Publishing sent a copy of the book promptly and we want to be sure to thank them for doing so. You may check out their other titles at their site located here: https://schifferbooks.com/

Bazooka Charlie tells a story that one does not often hear concerning World War II. If one wants to read about fighter pilots, there are stacks of books about Lightenings and Mustangs. If one wants to read about bomber pilots, one will find many references to Mitchells, Liberators, and so on. Even the villain, the Luftwaffe, is replete with Messerschmitts and their ilk. What one hears hardly a peep about are the Liason Pilots flying Piper Cubs which had the primary job of targeting ground forces from the air and radioing the appropriate information. One surely hears nothing at all about anyone placing bazookas on these planes and using them aggressively in order to remove Panzer tanks. As soon as one learns that this book does all of that, it has to go on any serious historian’s “must-read” stack.

Charlie Carpenter is the man on whom this particular story centers. Mr. Carpenter starts off as an athlete first and foremost and then gradually shifts into becoming a teacher as he matures. He writes his own creed by which he intends to live, and seems to have a set of values that one might describe as being Spartan. As events would demonstrate, he would have that creed severely tested.

Mr. Carpenter first signs up in the army to be a glider pilot. It does not take long, however, for him to decide that the Piper Cub Liason Pilot position is the one for him. Before he signs up, he meets the woman he will marry, and indeed he writes to her throughout his time in the service providing a window into both the world at that time and his inner thoughts. When he joins the Air Force, one can clearly discern the desire for Mr. Carpenter to prove his toughness. By the time those tests come, however, Mr. Carpenter is in a different state of mind as the war begins to play havoc with his own psychology and convictions. Though the subtitle of this book is ‘The Unbelievable Story of Major Charles Carpenter and Rosie the Rocketer’ a better subtitle might be ‘A Battle Between Man and Beast in the Belly of Hell’.

One reason this might be a better title is because Mr. Carpenter of all things, does not want to be a hero. He does not want publicity. He does not want recognition. Most of what is driving him to do the things he does in the book is a sense of frustration and a desire for revenge. An additional motivation that the book makes clear is a kind of crisis of faith that Mr. Carpenter undergoes along with an insouciance toward whether he ultimately lives or not. These traits combine and the press calls them courage and daring. Really though, Mr. Carpenter is just pissed off in a myriad of ways. What he is doing is rendering payback and often refers to his time surviving the war as “luck”.

James P. Busha, the main author with input from Carol Apacki, Mr. Carpenter’s daughter, starts the book out with a future event during which Mr. Carpenter is under a kind of court martial that is being instead called ‘battle fatigue’ which is a way the armed forces could sideline anyone with whom they did not approve of some action. In Mr. Carpenter’s case, he uses a tank that is not his to encourage the taking of a village and does so nearly single-handedly. This rankles certain commanding officers although Mr. Carpenter has the protection of a high-ranking Major General John Woods. John Woods is well-loved in the Air Force, but eventually also gets sidelined for rubbing the brass’s fur backwards over the speed at which his men are taking a certain area. He also receives the ‘battle fatigue’ sidelining treatment. Quite a bit of Mr. Carpenter’s war career was in ferrying the Major General about in his Piper Cub.

We learn through the book that Elda, Mr. Carpenter’s wife, is pregnant with Mr. Carpenter’s daughter. While Mr. Carpenter is excited about the event, he is often forlorn since he cannot go home to be with his family. As the early letters begin, Mr. Carpenter is very much a family man. By the end, Mr. Carpenter is not the spitting image of a spotless hero by his own admission where his wife is concerned. There are other women and affairs, and Mr. Carpenter seems to suggest he can no longer live in the idealistic way he did previous to the war. While later commentary is rendered suggesting this is due to PTSD, a careful reading shows that Mr. Carpenter was having difficulty with God and was rather angry that this whole situation he found himself within seemed to do nothing other than indicate the absence of that divine personage. This anger is perhaps productive in the sense that one wonders whether he might have strapped six bazookas on his Piper Club and then dove down eye level with German Panzer tanks without it. Sometimes, one is reminded by the actions of the book, that God answers the prayer through us even despite ourselves.

The narrative does an excellent job at allowing Mr. Carpenter to tell his own story through his own letters sent to ‘Bunny’ otherwise known as ‘Elda Carpenter’–his wife. We even get backstage passes to his life after the war his battle with cancer and some perhaps more peaceful moments he finally finds with his daughter. We also learn that he goes back to teaching and has some things to say about his country and democracy as a result of the experiences he endures and he does not require a lot of notes to do it since he is a primary witness to the war. Much of what he has to say applies today, although it must be remembered that what is said is said from the vantage point of an idealist who has his ideals eroded by the horrors he endures. It is difficult, one finds, to have faith in one’s country or anything else when one undergoes severe trials. Yet, Mr. Carpenter fights his cancer in order to try to spend more time with his daughter and wife. He finds some measure of healing, it seems, and is able to at least put some of what happened behind him.

There are a lot of stories within this text that are too numerous for the number of words this article needs to stay under. Indeed, Mr. Carpenter is and was a hero, but not because of the bazookas or even the flying. No, if anything, it was being willing to undertake such a journey in the first place. On his deathbed, Mr. Carpenter makes the statement that he believes that through his sufferings he is purified. Indeed, suffering can act as a kind of purification although it usually is the case that such suffering is rather the “last stop” for such purification when it can not be handled any other way. One achieves catharsis, perhaps, in the manner they most accept. One likes to think then, that when Mr. Carpenter faced the Eternal Master the Master simply said, “Well, we had some disagreements you and I, but you lived well enough. Here is your reward.”