Rail, Robert L.

RAIL, INGALLS

Posted By: Bill Rathbun (email)
Date: 9/21/2003 at 15:37:35

September 16, 2003

Robert L. Rail, 83, of Oakdale, N.Y., died Sunday, Sept. 14, 2003, at University Hospital in Stony Brook, N.Y.

Interment was in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.

Mr. Rail was the son of John and Bertha Rail of Stockport. He married Olga Rail.

Mr. Rail attended Burlington High School, and in 1939 left the family farm in Stockport to join the U.S. Navy. Upon completing basic seaman training at Great Lakes Naval Station, he served aboard the U.S.S. Savannah. He was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart in recognition of actions when an enemy bomb struck the U.S.S. Savannah Sept. 11, 1943, in the Battle of Salerno, Italy. He served almost continuously at sea from 1939 to 1946 in the American, European and Pacific theaters of the war.

After the war, Mr. Rail worked for several years overseas on the reconstruction of the island of Okinawa. Upon returning to the U.S., he met his wife in New York City, and thereafter moved to Long Island, N.Y., where he resided for the remainder of his life.

Survivors include his wife; one son, Vernon Rail of East Islip, N.Y.; and one sister, Helen Ingalls of Newton.

Courtesy of the Fairfield Daily Ledger