Railing, Alton S.

ALTON SYLVESTER RAILING 

SERGEANT
U.S. ARMY AIR CORPS

Alton Sylvester Railing was born October 9, 1920 in Decatur, Indiana. His parents where Forest and Mary Alice (Garner) Railing; he had seven siblings: Forrest Jr., Morton, Joseph, Gordon, Virginia (Beer), Anna (Barker), and Helen (Sills). His brother, Morton, was in the army and served in the Pacific. Another brother, Joseph was an Aviation Cadet. Forrest Jr. also served in the army. A fourth brother, Gordon, enlisted after Alton was killed. His youngest sister, Virginia Beer would marry and have 5 children. Anna Barker, the oldest, would have 2 children. Finally, Helen Sills married and had 2 children. Alton was also engaged when we went off to the war. Alton attended Pleasant Mills High School through his freshman year in around 1938. After dropping out he worked on a farm and at General Electric as a machinist. 

Alton enlisted on August 31, 1942 in Toledo Ohio. He barely made the height requirement for Army Air Corps, as he was only 66" tall. He was assigned to the 66th Squadron 4th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, nicknamed the "Flying Eightballs" as an aerial gunner on a B24 Liberator. The nose art was of a winged bomb cartoon with superimposed eyes and the nose of a bomb in the squadron colors. He was assigned to the position of right waist gunner. He did training at Scott Field, II, Laredo, TX and Casper, WA. Alton was also transferred to the 9th Air Force located at Benia, Libya so that they could support Operation Husky and the invasion of Sicily, but would return to the 8th Air Forces in England after these missions. He took part on Operation Husky, which was the Allies first invasion of axis-controlled territory in Europe. 

Operation Husky started July 9, 1943 and lasted until August 17, 1943. Operation Husky was used as a D-Day practice for both amphibious and airborne forces. He was also involved in the Invasion of Italy. This followed Operation Husky and leaders thought that this would hasten an Italian surrender and help with quick victory over Germany. The Invasion of Italy started on September 3, 1943 and lasted until September 16, 1943. The 66th Squadron got their start on January 15, 1942 at McDill, Florida; but their stay there was short. The group was soon moved to Barksdale Field, Louisiana where the group flew anti-submarine patrols. This was to keep watch of the ocean around the United States, and make sure that no German or Japanese subs were in our waters. If they saw an enemy sub in the waters they would attack it and report its location. Alton's group had one confirmed U-boat that they destroyed. The group then moved to Grenier Field, New Hampshire. In late September they were re-deployed to the United Kingdom. The group was awarded at this time a Distinguished Unit Citation for completing a hazardous mission at a naval base in Kiel on May 14, 1943. The group also took part it Operation Tidal Wave, which was a raid on oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania. The reason why this mission was important was that they were bombing oil fields, to rid axis party of much needed oil.The "Flying Eightballs" claim to fame was that they were the first group to have B-24 Liberators, and claimed a large amount of enemy aircraft destroyed.

On November 16, 1943, Alton was assigned to a B24 Liberator nicknamed "Mr. 5X5", named after a famous singer at the time describing a man who was five feet tall and five feet wide, to go over Bernham, Germany. This area was an industrial area, and the plan was to bomb this area in hopes of hitting factories. This was an attempt to cripple the German economy. Alton was originally not on the list to be a part of the mission, but he volunteered to do this mission in order to get closer to the required 25 missions to go home. The weather on the day of the mission was bad, and not the best conditions to fly a plane. They continued the mission, and on the way back "Mr. 5X5", was caught in the prop wash of another aircraft. With a prop wash the air around the plane is thinned out and can create strong currents. This affects the lift of a plane. The propellers of a second B24, "Bing's Big Box" cut and sheared off the entire tail section of "Mr. 5X5" as it attempted to tighten formation causing the plane to crash into the sea. A crew member from "Bing's Big Box" saw six people jump out, but none survived. The crew included Alexander Trolese, James A. Harper, Gordon L. Marcouiller, Jack A. Gates, Thomas C. Ray, Charles E. Kraurs, Thomas J. Appledon, Alton S. Railing, Edward R. Markus and Raymond E. Wright. 

SSgt. Railing was temporarily buried overseas at a Beligum cemetery called Neuville-en-Condroz. Alton's remains were moved in 1948 and he is now interred at Decatur Maplewood Cemetery. 

In April 1945, the family received word that PFC Forest Railing Jr. had been seriously wounded with the 35th Infantry Division in Germany. Having lost one son already, it was great relief to receive word from a chaplain that Forest "was getting along satisfactorily".

For his service and sacrifice, Alton received the Purple Heart, Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal, and the WWII Victory Medal.  

Information researched and collected by Becca Gunter, 2015. 

SOURCES

"Alton S. Railing." Ancient Faces. Ancient Faces, 24 Sept. 2013. Web. 30 Nov.2015. http://www.ancientfaces.com/person/alton-s-railing/156436945.

"Forest and Mary Railing." Ancestry. Ancestry, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.

Indiana Historical Bureau, comp. Gold Star Honor Roll: Adams County. Bloomington: Indiana War History Commission, 1949. Print. Vol. 1 of Indiana in World War II.

Sills, Hellen. Personal interview. 4 Nov. 2015.

Skiff, Al. "Alton S. Railing." Alton S. Railing. American Air Museum of Britain, 8 Apr. 2015. Web. 30 Nov. 2015. http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/6987.

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