Baldwin Carr (BS Chem Egr ’50) Receives Purple Heart Medal

Baldwin Carr (BS Chem Egr ’50), who died as a Chinese prisoner during the Korean War, will receive posthumously the nation’s oldest military decoration – the Purple Heart combat medal – in a campus ceremony today.

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers will preside over the ceremony at 11 a.m. at Demonstration Hall.

The Purple Heart acknowledges the bravery and sacrifice of First Lt. Baldwin Ronald Carr, who was taken prisoner by the Chinese on April 25, 1951, and died in captivity just four months later, on Sept. 1. His body has never been returned to his family.

Carr graduated from Lansing’s Sexton High School in 1946 and from MSU in 1950 with a BS in chemical engineering. He was commissioned out of the MSU R.O.T.C. as a Second Lieutenant in 1950, and was assigned in 1951 to the 6th Medium Tank Battalion of the 1st Calvary Division.

Carr’s brother, Gordon Carr, will accept the Purple Heart on behalf of his brother and their family.

“Baldwin Carr made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our nation and stand up for freedom, giving his life from the depth of his own faith and his belief in what the United States of America stands for in our world,” Rogers said. “It is with the utmost honor and gratitude that I join with Gordon Carr and members of the MSU Department of Military Science and the R.O.T.C. members to remember Lt. Baldwin Carr. We all represent a grateful nation in honoring his service and his sacrifice.”