Thursday, March 26, 2020

WW2 Fallen - Air Medal hero and A-36 pilot William Strainis

Lt. William Strainis was an A-36 pilot in Italy.
William Strainis never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WW2 fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better. 
Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org.
This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War 2 fallen in one free-to-access central database. 
Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

William was born on March 26, 1920 in Illinois. His adoptive parents Anton and Anna were both immigrants from Lithuania. His father worked as a coal miner. William did not have any brothers or sisters. I found the family in the 1940 census but could not find William. When he registered for the draft in July 1941, William was living in Gary, Indiana and working for the Carnegie Steel Company. 

William enlisted in the Army Air Forces as an aviation cadet in January 1942. Upon graduation in October 1942, he was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant and was assigned to the 309th Bombardment Squadron (Light) as a pilot. The 309th initially flew Douglas A-20 Havoc attack aircraft, but in late 1942 transitioned to the North American A-36, the ground-attack/dive bomber version of the P-51 Mustang.

The 309th departed the States in April 1943 for North Africa and moved between several bases in Algeria and Morocco over the next several months. The 309th saw its first combat action on 6 July 1943, striking enemy entrenchments in Sicily in order to soften enemy resistance for General George S. Patton's invading Seventh Army. The 309th next moved to Sicily to support the Allied campaign against the West Coast of Italy. In August 1943, the 309th was redesignated the 525th Fighter-Bomber Squadron. Lt. Strainis was killed in action on 18 September 1943 when his A-36 was shot down near Battipaglia on the southwest coast of Italy. Lt. Strainis was awarded the Air Medal for meritorious service and three oak leaf clusters.

William’s father passed away a little over a month after his adopted son. William Strainis is buried along with his parents in Westville Lithuainian Cemetery in Westville, Illinois. 

Thank you Lt. Strainis for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for William.
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This profile was written by Bob Fuerst. "I’m a NASA engineer, B-17 Flying Fortress enthusiast, and amateur genealogist so this kind of research is an ideal outlet for me. But more than anything, it’s a way to express my sincere appreciation for The Greatest Generation and the sacrifices that they made, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice. They should never be forgotten and I’m grateful to Don for allowing me to play a small part in honoring them." 
Last year on this date I profiled Pvt. Woods Lear of the 96th Infantry Division. You can read about Woods 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.

Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100

WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by
The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation
“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

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