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<span class=prefix>SSGT</span> Clarence Wilfred Randall

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SSGT Clarence Wilfred Randall Veteran

Birth
Big Sandy, Chouteau County, Montana, USA
Death
15 Mar 1945 (aged 21)
Wittenberge, Landkreis Prignitz, Brandenburg, Germany
Burial
Big Sandy, Chouteau County, Montana, USA Add to Map
Memorial ID
View Source

The following provided by Find A Grave contributor "Cara":


Mountaineer, "Lest We Forget", 25 Aug 1999, Big Sandy Historical Society

Clarence Randall joined the Air Force in 1942. He was an airplane gunner on a B-17. His plane was shot down by antiaircraft in late 1944 in Europe. He was brought back to Big Sandy to rest.

Clarence was a kind of quiet kid. His nickname was "Cannonball" --maybe that's why he became an airplane gunner.

His parents were Clarence E & Anna Christensen Randall

..........

The following from from Paul Webber(47577572):

Staff Sergeant Clarence Wilfred Randall, Army serial number 19125060, was born at Big Sandy, Chouteau County, Montana on July 5, 1923. His parents were Clarence Enoch Randall (19 Jan 1889 – 7 Apr 1985), who was born at Mallard, Palo Alto County, Iowa; and Anna P. (Christensen) Randall (3 Sep 1894 – 4 Feb 1971), who was born in Denmark. His parents married on October 6, 1915 at Big Sandy, Montana, where his father was a farmer and rancher. His parents moved to Tacoma, Washington in 1947, and to Vancouver, Washington by 1949; they later moved to Riverside, California. He had two sisters: Laura Mae (Randall) Engelke (1918 – 2004) and Ethel Ann (Randall) Pilling (1926 – 2014).

He attended Big Sandy High School, where he was active in Future Farmers of America and the school rifle club, and graduated on May 22, 1941. He registered for the draft at Fort Benton, Chouteau County, Montana on June 30, 1942. He was 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighed 155 pounds, and had blue eyes and brown hair. He worked as a shipping and receiving clerk and was single when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Butte, Montana on November 7, 1942.

He completed Army Air Forces flight engineer training at Amarillo, Texas; and aerial gunnery training at Kingman, Arizona. Then he reported to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Joseph D. Conwill Jr. The Conwill crew completed B-17 operational training at Biggs Field in El Paso, Texas, and deployed to England in early January 1945. They were assigned to the 837th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. They arrived in England by January 20, 1945, and became part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. The crew was soon chosen to become a lead crew.

On March 15, 1945, the Conwill crew flew on the 487th Bomb Group mission to bomb the railroad marshalling yards at Oranienburg, Germany, near Berlin. Lt Conwill's crew lead the Diamond Squadron (aka the Low, Low Squadron) of the formation. Air leader Captain Robert G. Reeder flew in the copilot seat. Copilot Lt Birtrum Lindquist moved to the tail as officer tail gunner and formation observer, as was the custom. Here is the crew roster on that day:

B-17G 44-8746 – 837th Bomb Squadron

• Conwill Jr, Joseph D – 1/Lt – Pilot – KIA

• Reeder, Robert G – Capt – Air Leader – POW

• McNeish, Cecil C – 2/Lt – Navigator – KIA

• Moderski, Jerome D – 1/Lt – Bombardier – KIA

• Dippo, Ramor W – 2/Lt – Radar Operator – POW

• Randall, Clarence W – S/Sgt – Engineer – KIA

• Polifka, George J – Sgt – Radio Operator – POW

• Copelin, Robert L – Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – POW

• Valentine, James A – Sgt – Waist Gunner – POW

• Lindquist, Birtrum F – 2/Lt – Officer Tail Gunner – POW

S/Sgt Randall and three of his crewmates were killed in action when their aircraft, B-17G 44-8746, was shot down by flak over Wittenberge, Germany in the Elbe River Valley. They had dropped their bombs on the marshalling yards at Oranienburg, and encountered intense, accurate flak over Wittenberge on the return. Direct flak hits blew off the nose of the aircraft and the forward underside of the fuselage, probably killing navigator Lt McNeish and bombardier Lt Moderski instantly. S/Sgt Randall was observed to be seriously wounded and unconscious, lying on the floor at the bottom of the top turret. The catwalk in the bomb bay was blown away and his crewmates could not reach him. He went down with the plane.

Lt Jack Leon had flown this mission in the Lead Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group formation. He wrote:

     "After we turned off the target we went over uncharted flak at Wittenberg [Wittenberge]. This is the worst thing I've ever seen. We were in it for about three minutes and could hear every burst, it was bouncing us all over the sky. The nose was blown off of Capt Reeder's ship and he went down in a tight spiral, a mass of flames."

Pilot Lt Conwill survived the parachute jump, but was seriously wounded. He died of his wounds at a military hospital in Neuruppin, Germany on April 2, 1945.

Note: Wittenberge is misspelled Wittenberg in Missing Air Crew Report 13089. The stated map coordinates, 53°00'N, 11°45'E, identify Wittenberge.

S/Sgt Randall's remains were not found for over a year. On March 16, 1946, the War Department wrote to his parents and confirmed that his plane had been shot down over "Pearlburg" [Perleberg], Germany, on the return from Oranienburg; and that a presumptive Finding of Death was made in his case. In 1947, the remains of navigator Lt McNeish were found in a German churchyard cemetery at Perleberg, Germany, a short distance northeast of Wittenberge. S/Sgt Randall's remains may have been found there about the same time.

His remains were returned to the United States in 1949, and arrived by train at Havre, Montana on Thursday, September 8, 1949. A funeral service was held at the Methodist Church in Big Sandy, Montana at 2 PM on Friday, September 9, 1949, with Reverend Leon Johnson officiating. This was followed by full military graveside honors provided by The American Legion and VFW squads and classmates of the deceased. His remains were interred at Big Sandy Cemetery in Big Sandy, Montana.


Sources:

1. 487th Bomb Group Association

2. 1895 Iowa State Census; Palo Alto County. Randall, Milton. 1 Jan 1895 (his father's father)

3. 1900 US Census; Iowa, Kossuth County; Swea Township. Randall, Milton S. 1 Jun 1900 (his father's father)

4. 1930 US Census; Montana; Chouteau County; Big Sandy. Randall, Clarence E. 9 Apr 1930 (his father)

5. 1940 US Census; Montana; Chouteau County; Big Sandy. Randall, Clarence. 2 May 1940 (his father)

6. California Death Index, 1940–1997

7. Cemetery Administration of Evangelical Parish of Neuruppin, Germany: Report of the burial of Joseph D. Conwill in the church cemetery on April 2, 1945. (Report confirms serial number; date of birth; and place of death, the Military Hospital of Neuruppin)

8. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004

9. Enlistment Record of Clarence W. Randall

10. Fields of Honor Database: Cecil C. Mc Neish

11. HQ, AAF Station 137, APO 559. Special Orders Number 20. 24 Jan 1945 (order that assigned Lt Conwill's crew to the 837th Bomb Squadron, 487th Bomb Group, effective 20 Jan 1945)

12. Randall family tree at familysearch.org

13. Social Security Death Index

14. Montana, Chouteau County Records, 1876–2011. Birth certificate of Clarence Wilfred Randall (born at Big Sandy, Montana on 5 Jul 1923)

15. Montana, County Marriages, 1865–1950 (his parents married at Big Sandy, Montana on 6 Oct 1915)

16. Montana Newspapers. Articles about Clarence W. Randall and his family. 1923–1949 (searched for "Clarence Randall" and found many articles in The Mountaineer of Big Sandy, Montana; and The River Press of Fort Benton, Montana)

17. United States Headstone Applications for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925–1949 (application for his headstone, submitted by his father in Sep 1949)

18. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 13089

19. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)

20. World War I Draft Registration of Clarence E. Randall. 5 Jun 1917 (his father)


Research by:

Paul Webber

Find A Grave member ID 47577572

Last edited 27 Jan 2024

The following provided by Find A Grave contributor "Cara":


Mountaineer, "Lest We Forget", 25 Aug 1999, Big Sandy Historical Society

Clarence Randall joined the Air Force in 1942. He was an airplane gunner on a B-17. His plane was shot down by antiaircraft in late 1944 in Europe. He was brought back to Big Sandy to rest.

Clarence was a kind of quiet kid. His nickname was "Cannonball" --maybe that's why he became an airplane gunner.

His parents were Clarence E & Anna Christensen Randall

..........

The following from from Paul Webber(47577572):

Staff Sergeant Clarence Wilfred Randall, Army serial number 19125060, was born at Big Sandy, Chouteau County, Montana on July 5, 1923. His parents were Clarence Enoch Randall (19 Jan 1889 – 7 Apr 1985), who was born at Mallard, Palo Alto County, Iowa; and Anna P. (Christensen) Randall (3 Sep 1894 – 4 Feb 1971), who was born in Denmark. His parents married on October 6, 1915 at Big Sandy, Montana, where his father was a farmer and rancher. His parents moved to Tacoma, Washington in 1947, and to Vancouver, Washington by 1949; they later moved to Riverside, California. He had two sisters: Laura Mae (Randall) Engelke (1918 – 2004) and Ethel Ann (Randall) Pilling (1926 – 2014).

He attended Big Sandy High School, where he was active in Future Farmers of America and the school rifle club, and graduated on May 22, 1941. He registered for the draft at Fort Benton, Chouteau County, Montana on June 30, 1942. He was 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighed 155 pounds, and had blue eyes and brown hair. He worked as a shipping and receiving clerk and was single when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Butte, Montana on November 7, 1942.

He completed Army Air Forces flight engineer training at Amarillo, Texas; and aerial gunnery training at Kingman, Arizona. Then he reported to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Joseph D. Conwill Jr. The Conwill crew completed B-17 operational training at Biggs Field in El Paso, Texas, and deployed to England in early January 1945. They were assigned to the 837th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. They arrived in England by January 20, 1945, and became part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. The crew was soon chosen to become a lead crew.

On March 15, 1945, the Conwill crew flew on the 487th Bomb Group mission to bomb the railroad marshalling yards at Oranienburg, Germany, near Berlin. Lt Conwill's crew lead the Diamond Squadron (aka the Low, Low Squadron) of the formation. Air leader Captain Robert G. Reeder flew in the copilot seat. Copilot Lt Birtrum Lindquist moved to the tail as officer tail gunner and formation observer, as was the custom. Here is the crew roster on that day:

B-17G 44-8746 – 837th Bomb Squadron

• Conwill Jr, Joseph D – 1/Lt – Pilot – KIA

• Reeder, Robert G – Capt – Air Leader – POW

• McNeish, Cecil C – 2/Lt – Navigator – KIA

• Moderski, Jerome D – 1/Lt – Bombardier – KIA

• Dippo, Ramor W – 2/Lt – Radar Operator – POW

• Randall, Clarence W – S/Sgt – Engineer – KIA

• Polifka, George J – Sgt – Radio Operator – POW

• Copelin, Robert L – Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – POW

• Valentine, James A – Sgt – Waist Gunner – POW

• Lindquist, Birtrum F – 2/Lt – Officer Tail Gunner – POW

S/Sgt Randall and three of his crewmates were killed in action when their aircraft, B-17G 44-8746, was shot down by flak over Wittenberge, Germany in the Elbe River Valley. They had dropped their bombs on the marshalling yards at Oranienburg, and encountered intense, accurate flak over Wittenberge on the return. Direct flak hits blew off the nose of the aircraft and the forward underside of the fuselage, probably killing navigator Lt McNeish and bombardier Lt Moderski instantly. S/Sgt Randall was observed to be seriously wounded and unconscious, lying on the floor at the bottom of the top turret. The catwalk in the bomb bay was blown away and his crewmates could not reach him. He went down with the plane.

Lt Jack Leon had flown this mission in the Lead Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group formation. He wrote:

     "After we turned off the target we went over uncharted flak at Wittenberg [Wittenberge]. This is the worst thing I've ever seen. We were in it for about three minutes and could hear every burst, it was bouncing us all over the sky. The nose was blown off of Capt Reeder's ship and he went down in a tight spiral, a mass of flames."

Pilot Lt Conwill survived the parachute jump, but was seriously wounded. He died of his wounds at a military hospital in Neuruppin, Germany on April 2, 1945.

Note: Wittenberge is misspelled Wittenberg in Missing Air Crew Report 13089. The stated map coordinates, 53°00'N, 11°45'E, identify Wittenberge.

S/Sgt Randall's remains were not found for over a year. On March 16, 1946, the War Department wrote to his parents and confirmed that his plane had been shot down over "Pearlburg" [Perleberg], Germany, on the return from Oranienburg; and that a presumptive Finding of Death was made in his case. In 1947, the remains of navigator Lt McNeish were found in a German churchyard cemetery at Perleberg, Germany, a short distance northeast of Wittenberge. S/Sgt Randall's remains may have been found there about the same time.

His remains were returned to the United States in 1949, and arrived by train at Havre, Montana on Thursday, September 8, 1949. A funeral service was held at the Methodist Church in Big Sandy, Montana at 2 PM on Friday, September 9, 1949, with Reverend Leon Johnson officiating. This was followed by full military graveside honors provided by The American Legion and VFW squads and classmates of the deceased. His remains were interred at Big Sandy Cemetery in Big Sandy, Montana.


Sources:

1. 487th Bomb Group Association

2. 1895 Iowa State Census; Palo Alto County. Randall, Milton. 1 Jan 1895 (his father's father)

3. 1900 US Census; Iowa, Kossuth County; Swea Township. Randall, Milton S. 1 Jun 1900 (his father's father)

4. 1930 US Census; Montana; Chouteau County; Big Sandy. Randall, Clarence E. 9 Apr 1930 (his father)

5. 1940 US Census; Montana; Chouteau County; Big Sandy. Randall, Clarence. 2 May 1940 (his father)

6. California Death Index, 1940–1997

7. Cemetery Administration of Evangelical Parish of Neuruppin, Germany: Report of the burial of Joseph D. Conwill in the church cemetery on April 2, 1945. (Report confirms serial number; date of birth; and place of death, the Military Hospital of Neuruppin)

8. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004

9. Enlistment Record of Clarence W. Randall

10. Fields of Honor Database: Cecil C. Mc Neish

11. HQ, AAF Station 137, APO 559. Special Orders Number 20. 24 Jan 1945 (order that assigned Lt Conwill's crew to the 837th Bomb Squadron, 487th Bomb Group, effective 20 Jan 1945)

12. Randall family tree at familysearch.org

13. Social Security Death Index

14. Montana, Chouteau County Records, 1876–2011. Birth certificate of Clarence Wilfred Randall (born at Big Sandy, Montana on 5 Jul 1923)

15. Montana, County Marriages, 1865–1950 (his parents married at Big Sandy, Montana on 6 Oct 1915)

16. Montana Newspapers. Articles about Clarence W. Randall and his family. 1923–1949 (searched for "Clarence Randall" and found many articles in The Mountaineer of Big Sandy, Montana; and The River Press of Fort Benton, Montana)

17. United States Headstone Applications for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925–1949 (application for his headstone, submitted by his father in Sep 1949)

18. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 13089

19. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)

20. World War I Draft Registration of Clarence E. Randall. 5 Jun 1917 (his father)


Research by:

Paul Webber

Find A Grave member ID 47577572

Last edited 27 Jan 2024


Inscription

CLARENCE W RANDALL
MONTANA
STAFF SGT   837 AAF BOMB SQ
WORLD WAR II
JULY 5 1923   MARCH 15 1945



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