Eighth Generation

4292. Joseph Edward "Edward" SALLING was born on 23 September 1921. He served in the military Tsgt between November 1942 and 1945 in World War II- Europe. See main note. His medals include the Air Medal, the European Theater Ribbon with one Bronze Star and one Silver Star, the Purple Heart, Bronze Cluster and Good Conduct Medal. He died on 2 January 1972 in Union Co., TN. Obituary in the Knoxville Journal 5 Jan 1972

War Hero Sallings Rites Set

Special to the Journal

Maynardville - Funeral services for Joseph Edward Sallings, 50, a former member of the Union County Court and a much-decorated veteran of World War II, will be held at 2 p.m. today in the Ailor Funeral Home Chapel.
Sallings, a prominent Union County farmer died at 2 p.m. Sunday (2 Jan 1972) at his home after a long illness
As a machine gunner on a B-17 during World War II, Sallings served with the Second group of the 20th Bomber Squadron.
During a flight over Czechoslovakia, he was shot down and spent more than three months behind enemy lines. After being rescued, he began flying again, was shot down over Yugoslavia and was reported missing in action for more than 11 months.
During the next time he was missing, Sallings said, he lived in a barn on a Yugoslavian farm. For 11 months his diet consisted of dried bread and baked potatoes and he had pneumonia twice but residents in the area nursed him back to health.
Sallings’ decorations and citations include the Air Medal, the European Theater Ribbon with one bronze and one silver star, the Purple Heart, Bronze cluster and the good Conduct medal.
He served in Southern and Northern France, Normandy, Central Europe, in the Balkans and the Rome-Arno battle.
His survivors include his wife, Imogene; four sons, Dale, Kenny, Jimmy and Joe Sallings; and his parents, Mr. And Mrs. W. L. Sallings, all of Luttrell.
Edward was buried in January 1972 in National Cemetery, Knoxville, TN. News article from the Knoxville Journal 23 Oct 1945

Tennessee Farm Boy Fought with Tito’s Czech Guerilla Forces

Special to the Journal
Luttrell, Oct 23 - Tech. Sgt. Joseph E. Sallings, 24, a Tennessee farm boy who fought alongside Tito’s partisans in Yugoslavia and rose to the rank of Captain in a guerilla band in Nazi conquered Czechoslovakia, has returned home following his separation from the service last week at San Antonio District AAF Personnel Distribution Command at San Antonio, Texas.
Trained by the Army Air Forces to fight in the skies as an armorer-gunner aboard a Flying Fortress, Sergeant Sallings spent nearly a year of his three years of military service fighting on the ground, miles behind the German lines, alongside men whose desire for liberty he understood even if he was a stranger to their tongue.

Lives in Luttrell

Sergeant Sallings is the son of Mr. And Mrs. W. L. Sallings, Route 1, Luttrell. His parents were left to run their farm without him in November, 1942, when he was inducted into military service and after basic training in the AAF at Miami Beach, Florida, sent to armorer’s school at Santa Anita, Calif., and gunnery school at Laredo, Texas.
Assigned as a waist gunner in A Flying Fortress crew, he went overseas in 1944 as a member of the Second Bomb Group, 20th Bomb Squadron, 15th Air Force, stationed near Foggia, Italy.
“Things started to happen to me on my first mission,” Sergeant Sallings said. “We dropped our bombs on a target on the outskirts of Vienna on June 16, but the flak was heavy and our engines went out one by one on the way back. Finally about 100 kilometers east of Zagreb, Yugoslavia, our pilot had to crash land in an open field. None of us was hurt.”
The fliers walked into a village for water and were there met by a group of Tito’s Partisans.
“One of them asked if we were English, “ he continued. “When we told them we were Americans, they seemed very pleased and told us they would conduct us to safety. They were a very efficient outfit, although armed with old German army rifles. We stayed with them for 15 days and met many units of Marshal Tito’s armies during that time, but we never did see him. I liked them very much.”

Flown to Outfit

The crewmen were eventually flown back to their outfit from a secret airfield near the Adriatic Sea, used by AAF transport planes in bringing supplies to the Partisans.
After reaching Foggia on July 1, Sallings and his fellow airmen soon resumed their bombing missions. His next 11 missions were fairly uneventful, although once or twice his ship returned with flak holes.
“We set out from Italy on our thirteenth mission on August 29,” the Tennessee gunner asserted. “The unlucky number wasn’t even noticed by any of us. Our target was a synthetic oil factory in Czechoslovakia near the border of Poland and Germany. En route we suddenly found German fighter planes attacking from all sides and we never did reach the target.
“I caught a slug in my right shin bone. A burst crumpled our left wing. Our tail assembly was ripped to shreds and then the whole ship must have exploded. We were at 25,000 feet and I was blown out. The next thing I remember was pulling my ripcord as I fell. I landed in a tree in a wooded area. I never saw any of the other fellows again, although I heard seven of them were made prisoner.”
An artery had been severed by the wound in Sergeant Sallings leg, and as he loosened his parachute straps and slid to the ground, he came down into the hands of a German soldier and a Czech policeman, he said. Immediately there was an exchange of shots and the German soldier was killed. Then the Czech policeman and another Czech put a tourniquet on his leg and took him away to hiding in a barn for 30 days until his wound was healed. Then he was taken before the commander of a Czech guerilla band of about 400 men.
This man told me I was deep in Czechoslovakia, far from the lines of our nearest Allies, the Russians,” Sallings continued. “He said I might be able to make it to the Russians, but thought it dangerous and urged me to stay with his band and fight the Germans. So I did.”
Placed in command of a small group with the task of collecting supplies, ammunition and weapons dropped from Russian planes, young Sallings distinguished himself and was promoted to Lieutenant. Several times he and his men augmented their stores by attacks on German supply trucks on lonely stretches of road, he said.
In December, 1944, he said, the guerilla band had grown until there were nearly 4000 men. Their attacks upon the Nazi supply lines grew bolder until they destroyed power lines serving a hand grenade factory employing 1700 workers and munitions plant with 2000 workers.
“Then we dynamited two troop trains, en route to the Russian front, when they stopped at a village siding,” he continued. “There was some opposition from survivors after the explosion and I was wounded in the right leg again. This time it was above the knee. It was a hand grenade fragment.”
The Czech guerilla commander was wounded and his chief aide killed in the attack, Sallings added, with the result that the Tennessean was named second in command and promoted to Captain.

Commander ‘Butch’

“I never did learn to pronounce my commander’s name,” he smiled. “So I just called him ‘Butch’. He had once been a Czech army officer but before that, he had been a farmer. I guess that was why he liked me. So had I.”
The war ended for Sallings when Rumanian troops marched into the Czechoslovakian area in May and helped clean up remaining pockets of Germans. He was then given a formal discharge from the Czech band and returned by train to the American lines in the west. From thence he was flown back to Paris and repatriated.
For all his experiences, Sallings presently wears on the Air Medal and Purple Heart with clusters and six battle stars on his service ribbons. He has been cited for other accomplishments but has not received any notice about other awards so far.
“The Czechs with whom I fought were very brave, but they were not nearly as well disciplined as Tito’s men,” he said. “I’ve got some good friends over in Czechoslovakia, but I don’t think I will ever see them again. All I want to do is stay in Tennessee the rest of my life.”
Sergeant Sallings arrived home on furlough last July and spent 60 days at home before returning to Texas for his discharge.
He is a cousin of Bruce Needham and a nephew of E. G. Dukes, both of Knoxville.

Joseph Edward "Edward" SALLING and Gladys Imogene LEE were married on 14 December 1957 in TN. Gladys Imogene LEE was born on 14 March 1932.¹⁸³ She died on 29 September 1982.¹⁸³

Joseph Edward "Edward" SALLING and Gladys Imogene LEE had the following children:

6522	i.	Robert Dale SALLING was born on 11 January 1959 in TN. He graduated on 10 June 1977 in Horace Maynard High School, Maynardville, TN.
6523	ii.	Kenneth Delbert SALLING was born on 18 December 1959 in TN. He graduated on 10 June 1977 in Horace Maynard High School, Maynardville, TN.
6524	iii.	James Edward SALLING was born on 8 September 1961 in TN.
+6525	iv.	Joseph Gregory SALLING.