Local News
Signs to honor World War II flying ace
JOE SEELIG
Published: October 9, 2012
SEBRING - World War II flying ace Maj. Thomas B. "Tommy" McGuire Jr. will be honored once again when a series of signs dedicated to his memory are installed Oct. 18 on Kenilworth Boulevard from Lakeview Drive to Haywood Taylor Boulevard.Published: October 9, 2012
An official ceremony is planned for 3 p.m., Oct. 20, at the Sebring Regional Airport on the tarmac, weather permitting, or inside the terminal, said Gary Lamperelli, president of the Sebring Historical Society, in a July 12 report.
"We're in the process of not renaming Kenilworth Boulevard, which would not go over well with anyone, but actually adding dedicated signage that also would look to it being known as the Thomas B. McGuire Memorial Highway," he said.
All signs will be permanently installed with the help of the county, which will also print the signs on a "brown, high-intensity prismatic reflective material," Lamperelli said.
McGuire was born Aug. 1, 1920, in Ridgewood, N.J., but moved to Sebring with his mother when he was 9 years old. They lived at 10 Kenilworth Blvd., but the house they called home is no longer there.
McGuire graduated from Sebring High School in 1938, enrolled at Georgia Tech University, and left college to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps at the onset of World War II.
McGuire piloted a Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter plane and shot down 38 Japanese planes from the time he entered combat in 1943 until his death two years later, a 1991 Tampa Tribune news story stated.
He was only two kills short of the country's leading ace, Richard Bong, when his engine failed and he crashed and died in the jungle at Los Negros Islands in the Pacific Ocean while trying to save a fellow pilot in distress, on Jan. 7, 1945.
His remains were buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously and the Tommy McGuire Air Force base in New Jersey was named in his memory.
Military dignitaries have been invited to attend. There has been confirmation there will be representation, Lamperelli said.
Sebring Historical Society Archivist Carole Goad said she has all of McGuire's medals, including his Medal of Honor, donated years ago by McGuire's widow, Marilyn Beatty.
The Sebring Historical Society is located behind the Sebring Public Library.