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| '''Donald Byers''' <br/>9/3/2002 3:51:39 PM 
| A memorial service will be held Wednesday for Charles Tarr, a highly decorated Air Force navigator and generous Las Vegas businessman who was known as &quot;Mr. Anonymous.&quot; <br/>       He died Dec. 31 at age 84. <br/>       He was born in 1915 in Kiev, which is now the capital of the Ukraine, and at 2 years old immigrated with his parents to Philadelphia. <br/>       According to his longtime friend Jerry Engel, Tarr dropped out of school in the seventh grade to work in his father's butcher shop. He often said, &quot;Where else but in American can an immigrant dropout get the opportunity to succeed in business?&quot; <br/>       He enlisted in the Air Force in 1942 and flew in 42 combat missions over such German cities as Dresden, Nuremberg, Cologne and Berlin. As a B-17 navigator, he received several medals including the Distinguished Flying Cross. He went on to become a celestial navigation instructor for the Air Force after World War II. <br/>       His war stories were about bullet holes in airplanes and saving lives, Engel said. &quot;He was a hero when I met him, and he was a hero when he died. He was a real, beautiful human being.&quot; <br/>       Tarr started his first business in Las Vegas, Charlie Tarr's Scooter Sales, in 1950. He later established a printing firm, Addressing & Mailing Inc., which he operated for 34 years. <br/>       He was described once by a newspaper columnist as &quot;Mr. Anonymous,&quot; because he avoided publicity about his charitable works, saying he didn't need the acknowledgment but was just happy that he could help. <br/>       He made contributions to various churches, schools and organizations, and received a proclamation from Clark County commissioners on his 75th birthday. That citation recognized him as a &quot;living testament to the true meaning of good will and compassion to human beings.&quot; <br/>       Engel said, &quot;He never looked for publicity. He just loved helping people. He was Mr. Anonymous to the day he died, leaving most of his estate to various charities.&quot; <br/>       He was a member of the Civil Air Patrol, Senior Squadron; the Charles T. Kandel Post of the Jewish War Veterans; Elks Lodge No. 1468; and the Host Lions Club. He was honored with the club's National Melvin Jones Fellow Award. <br/>       He was also a founding member of the American Air Museum in Great Britain, and a life member of the Mighty 8th Air Force Heritage Center, and the 401st Bombardment Group. <br/>       He is survived by his daughter, Barbara, of Las Vegas; two grandsons; and three great-grandchildren<br/>  
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