General Notes

Custom Field:<_FA#> Killed in France. June 15, 1918. Age 25 yrs.@@S726784@@Date of Import: Jul 31, 2003
Custom Field:<_FA#> 15 Jun 1918During WW I his plane crashed while on assignment as ferry pilot, out of Tours@@S726784@@Date of Import: Jul 31, 2003
Custom Field:<_FA#> France. Buried in Grave # 84, Tours, France, later re-interred, Atmore, AL.@@S726784@@Date of Import: Jul 31, 2003
Custom Field:<_FA#> Later he was interred in Oak Hill Cemetery, Atmore, AL. On his headstone: 1st Lt. Aviation.@@S726784@@Date of Import: Jul 31, 2003
Custom Field:<_FA#> 2 Feb 1923Atmore's American Legion Post named Billy Glenn Rushing Post #90.@@S726784@@Date of Import: Jul 31, 2003
Custom Field:<_FA#> He never married.@@S726784@@Date of Import: Jul 31, 2003
[coosa1.ged]
How Billy Glenn Rushing Post Got Its Name Cited
History of Atmore Soldier Club Is Adorned in Background of Real
Heroism and Valor
If you would like to know how Atmore’s American legion post got its name,
and why it was so named, give us your ear a few moment:
The post was named in honor of Billy Glenn Rushing, son of Atmore’s
present mayor, W. E. Rushing, and wife, who distinguished himself in the
service for America in the war with Germany, Austria, Turkey and
Bulgaria, in 1917 and 1918, as an aviator in France, losing his life in
action.
Born at Troy, Ala., Sept. 13, 1893, Billy Glenn moved here with his
parents a few year later. After attending the high school in Atmore he
went to the Polytechnic Institute at Auburn, from which school he
graduated in 1915 as an electrical engineer.
When the trouble with Mexico came in 1916 he enlisted in company A, 1st
Alabama National Guard, June 28. July 1st of that year he was appointed
corporal; and Feb. 1, 1917, was promoted to sergeant, then to top
sergeant Feb. 15. He saw service on the Mexican border from October,
1916, to March, 1917.
After attending the Reserve Officers Training Camp at Ft. McPherson, Ga.,
he was recommended for captaincy in the infantry, in May, 1917. But he
resigned to enter the aviation service, being given an honorable
discharge. Re-enlisting, he entered the ground school for training cadet
officers in the aviation section of the signal corps July 5, 1917. Being
an electrical engineer he was placed in charge of his squadron
detachment, as instructor in wireless while at Georgia Tech.
From this school he graduated Aug. 18, 1917, one of three honor students,
being recommended by H. H. C. Richards, the commandant, to be sent
overseas at once to become a full fledged American aviator.
He was sent to New York and sailed Sept. 8, 1917, on the Adriatic, a
White Star Line ship, landing in Italy Oct. 15, 1917. At the Italian
aviation camp, Foggia, he was given six months, flying five different
types of machines, doing many aerial stunts without a single accident.
March 23, 1918, with other American Eagles of the air, he was sent to
guard the Italian front. Against the Austrians this detachment of aerial
fighters, numbering 40 daring and  capable aviators, proved so efficient
and effective that General Pershing ordered the squadron to France, where
the great drive destined to smash the Hindenburg line, was being fomented.
Billy Glenn was detached from the squadron and given special assignments.
He went wherever called - sometimes to pilot a gigantic bombing plane
across the line with its cargo of death-dealing miscles, to be poured out
on German army camps behind the lines
It was while on an assignment as ferry pilot, out of Tours, France,
guarding off German planes to protect transport ships bringing soldiers
and munitions of war into France, that Billy Glenn Rushing lost his life,
June 15, 1918.
Making a turn, in some way his machine went into a nose dive, and he was
almost instantly killed. Though flying at an altitude of 6,000 feet when
the accident occurred, when the plane plunged into a wheat field below,
his body was not mangled or d