US Navy Pilot Lt. Frederick George Tyler was born in New Britain, Hartford County, Connecticut on November 17, 1918, the son of Frederick William Tyler (1889-1953) and Anna Gertrude "Nannie" Green (1886-1980). His parents would marry in 1917 in Connecticut and his father would support his family in 1940 as a manager of the Stanley Works stove company. In 1920, he had been an assistant foreman of a hardware manufacturing shop while he and Anna lived with his parents and his grandfather was the president of a Trust Company.
As for their son Frederick, after high school he entered Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. He would also enlist in the US Naval Reserve V-5 program on April 28, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York. This was a volunteer program that allowed civilian and enlisted candidates to train as aviation cadets. The candidates had to be between the ages of 19-25, with an associate degree or at least two years of college, and had to complete a bachelor's degree within six years after graduation to keep their commission. Training was for 18 months, and candidates had to agree to not marry during training and to serve for at least three more years of active duty service. Frederick would report for training in Atlanta, Georgia on September 30, 1941, but was then discharged by his own request to accept an appointment as an aviation cadet at NAS Pensacola. Upon completion of his flight training and commissioning he was retained there as an instructor for Squadron #1. In 1943, he was transferred to Atlanta as an advanced instrument flying instructor.
While there, he would marry Miss Frona Mae Carroll (1922-2019) from Pensacola on February 14, 1943. She was a graduate of Pensacola High School in the Class of 1940 and the daughter of Andrew Albert Carroll (1892-1943) and Omer D. Gambill (1891-1934). Her father had patriotically enlisted in the US Navy on July 14, 1942, as a 2nd Class Storekeeper. He would pass away on February 2, 1943, in the Naval Hospital in Corpus Christi, TX of coronary artery thrombosis caused by chronic myocarditis. Prior to death he was working for the California Fruit Growers Exchange in Houston, TX. Frona's parents were married on December 8, 1919, in Brooklyn, NY and would appear in Pensacola between 1921-1924. There, her father worked in sales before becoming a proprietor of his own merchant store prior to 1930. On May 21, 1934, Frona's mother passed away prematurely at their home at 1311 North 15th Avenue and was buried in St. John's Cemetery. By 1935, her father was listed as the proprietor of a service station.
Frona was also the maternal great granddaughter of Private Kenion Carroll (1821-1905) who enlisted on March 5, 1862, in Company "C" of the 1st Battalion of North Carolina Heavy Artillery. Most of the men in the company were from Robeson, Bladen, Columbus, and Brunswick counties. Kenion was one of the forty men from Bladen to enlist. Throughout the war he and his battery served the Confederate in North Carolina and saw action at Fort Fisher and Fort Anderson. In March 1865, many of the men were sent to Hagood's Infantry Brigade since their heavy guns were no longer of any use at that stage of the war. Shortly thereafter they would surrender with the Army of Tennessee.
As more and more pilots were needed in the South Pacific, Frederick was finally transferred to Squadron VF-80 on the fleet carrier USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) in August 1944. The war had now entered its final but bloodiest stages. On the morning of November 5, 1944, the Ticonderoga squadrons took off from their carrier to make their first strikes. Strapped into his F6F-5 Hellcat fighter, Frederick began his attack on enemy targets on Luzon's Manila Bay in the Philippines in support of the upcoming invasion of Leyte. As each made their bombing runs, Frederick was last seen by his comrades over the bay. As they began their flight back to the Ticonderoga, Frederick never returned. He was listed as missing in action and his remains were never recovered.
Back home, Frona was notified by the War Department that Frederick was missing in action. She was living at the time with her aunt and uncle J. Frank and Frona G. Crutcher at 1818 East Lakeview Street. Her uncle was the secretary and treasurer of the Owsley Lumber Company. Frona would remarry in 1953 in New Britain, Connecticut to Frederic C. Faulkner. She would pass away in 2019 and was buried in the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida. Her daughter Carol Ann Tyler would marry Geoffrey B. Kirk and settle in Tennessee. She wrote of her father, "Dad, we never had a chance to meet, you were gone before I was born. They tell me that you loved to fly more than anything in the world. I am sorry that it was only war that gave you your greatest dream. I wonder each day what my life would have been like had you been here to share it with me. I think of you often when I cruise among the sunlit clouds. I love you so much." Such is the price of war that must be paid by the heroes and survivors alike!
F6F Hellcat Fighter
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