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| Alton Elkin was the engineer on the B-24 Big Fat Butterfly. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107637369/alton-m-elkin http://www.b24bestweb.com/bigfatbutterfly.htm |
Alton M. Elkin never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on October 18, 1918 in Texas. His parents Michael and Mattie were born in Kentucky and Texas, respectively. His father worked as an odd jobs laborer and later as an ice company truck driver. Alton had one older sister. By 1940 Alton had completed four years of high school and was working as a gas station attendant while living at home.
He was drafted into the army on April 15, 1942. He volunteered for the Army Air Forces and became a tech sergeant and engineer in the 66th Bombardment Squadron, 44th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force which was equipped with B-24 Liberators.
8th Air Force planners decided that its bombers would make a concentrated effort to bomb German aircraft industry and draw out Luftwaffe fighters to shoot down experienced pilots who could not be easily replaced. It would take place from February 20 to February 25, 1944 and would be called Operation Argument. It became better known as "Big Week". Three thousand five hundred sorties dropping 10,000 tons of bombs in six days. Of greater impact was the loss of 355 German fighter planes and nearly 100 pilots.
Sgt. Elkin was part of the crew in Big Fat Butterfly. Its target on February 20, 1944 was Brunswick. After successfully completing its bombing run, his plane lost one engine and fell behind the others. It was presumed lost. German officials reported the death of Sgt. Elkin and the radio man. The fate of the rest of the crew remained unknown until the end of the war when it was determined that they all perished onboard.
His grave is at Eastview Memorial Park in Vernon, Texas
Last year on this date I profiled B-17 bombardier Robert Greenwell. You can read about Robert here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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