Alvin Thomas Rainey was born October 14, 1909 in Orleans Parish, Louisiana. His parents were Thomas and Amelia Cailler Rainey. His father was born in Texas and was a Marshall. His parents came from England. His mother was born in Louisiana. They had three children with Alvin having one older and one younger sister.

He had enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces and served during World War II. Rainey had the rank of Staff Sergeant. Service number assignment was 18138207. Attached to 34th Bomber Group, Heavy, 7th Bomber Squadron as a Radio Operator.

Rainey lost his life on D Day June 6, 1944. He was the Radio Operator on the crew of B-24 Liberator #41-28838 "Misery Agent" on a mission towards Normandy on D-Day on Operator Overload. They ran out of fuel and crashed into the trees and burned near the English coast killing 7 of the 9 crew members on board. Two died days later. They were still carrying twelve 500lb bombs at the time.

Alvin T Rainey is buried at Plot E Row 6 Grave 41, Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England. This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location.

COMMENDATIONS

★ Purple Heart

9 casualties related to the #41-28838 incident on June 6, 1944.

Find A Grave Memorials for crew below:

Pilot: 2nd Lt. Herman H Doell, NJ https://www.fold3.com/page/529901467/herman-m-doell/stories

Co Pilot: 2nd Lt. Lewis A Duncan, TX https://www.fold3.com/page/529906544/lewis-a-duncan/stories

Gunner: S/Sgt. Vincent C Drozdek, IL https://www.fold3.com/page/529903321/vincent-c-drozdek/stories

Radio Operator: S/Sgt. Alvin T Rainey, LA https://www.fold3.com/page/84828511/alvin-t-rainey/stories

Navigator: 2nd Lt. Robert K "Bob" Swarthout, MI https://www.fold3.com/page/529905973/robert-k-swarthout/stories

Ball Turret Gunner: S/Sgt. Jerome M Helget, MN https://www.fold3.com/page/653606404/jerome-m-helget/stories

Engineer: S/Sgt. William De Valera Curtin, CA https://www.fold3.com/page/639659138/william-d-curtin/stories

Waist Gunner: S/Sgt. William E Price, OK https://www.fold3.com/page/638820248/william-e-price/stories

Tail Gunner: Sgt. Arthur Stancati, NJ https://www.fold3.com/page/638198187/arthur-f-stancati/stories

_This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project _https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/. This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

Sources:

www.ancestry.com

www.findagrave.com

https://www.honorstates.org