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Unit:
Unknown
Date of Birth:
March 22, 2020
Hometown:
Houston, Texas
Date of Death:
January 7, 1945
Place of Death:
Yunnan Province, China
Awards:
Unknown
Sherwin J. Ball was born on March 22, 1920, in Houston, Texas. He lived with his parents, Henry and Daisy Ball, and his brothers Leo and Ray. He attended the University of Houston and later took a job at Hughes Tool Company, a drill-bit manufacturing company headed by the famous aviation innovator Howard Hughes, in his hometown.
Ball’s hometown was Houston, Texas. Houston was a developing blue-collar town that became highly industrialized during World War II. The community was involved in several forms of wartime manufacturing, including shipbuilding and the production of uniforms, soap, and water canisters for the U.S. military.
Even as Texas was becoming increasingly industrialized, agricultural production also increased as a result of the war. Home canning was the main form of food production. Since many families already lived on farms, many simply packaged up all kinds of food from their own gardens. In addition, Houston’s growth led to the establishment of the Texas A&M College System, which further advanced the region’s agricultural production by discovering more efficient farming methods and more resilient crops.
The community dramatically changed socially and economically as a result of the war. Wartime production not only helped Houston’s economy recover from the Depression, but it also transformed it into a manufacturing hub for the south that still endures today. This industrialization also incorporated more women into the workforce, advancing the city’s social structure. As more women began to hold jobs historically held by men, they began to demand equal treatment and civil liberties. While it would still be years before social conditions for women truly improved, these events empowered women and set in motion future calls for equal rights in Houston.
While many of our nation’s heroes either signed up to fight or were drafted, Ball’s experience was unique in that he never officially joined the military, but instead joined the fight as a civilian pilot flying supply missions.
By the time Ball joined the military, several volunteer flight programs had been established. Pilots were direly needed in all theatres of the war, and recruiting civilians to fly helped reduce the strain on the military’s supply of pilots.
Background
In the Asian Theatre, Japanese forces cut off all land routes to China in preparation for an invasion. Japan’s strategy was to weaken China by interrupting the supply of ammunition flowing into the country from the Allied powers. The only way to get supplies in was by flying an extremely dangerous path through the Himalayan mountains, a route nicknamed “The Hump.” In a collaboration between Pan-Am and the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC), a civilian training program called the First American Volunteer Group was established to recruit pilots to fly this route.
Service
Records suggest that Ball joined this program in the early 1940s. Ball spent the entirety of his service with a subgroup called The China Air Task Force nicknamed the Flying Tigers. In 1944, Ball was promoted to CNAC Captain, and from then on he piloted his own missions across The Hump. Unfortunately, there are few records of Ball’s missions, mainly because of the relatively small size of the program.
During a routine flight on January 7, 1945, Ball’s C-47 Skytrain lost radio contact at 3:15 a.m. It was later discovered that the plane went down in Yunnan Province, China, though the causes of the crash are unknown to this day. The wreckage was found a day later by a fellow CNAC pilot who reported that Ball and his two flight assistants had been killed. Ball was initially buried at an American cemetery in Yunnan Province, China, but Ball’s family later had him formally laid to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Sherwin J. Ball gave his life in one of the most perilous operations of the Pacific Theatre. In all, he piloted 30 round-trips across the Himalayas, and his sacrifice, along with the sacrifices of his fellow CNAC airmen, helped fend off an impending Japanese invasion of one of the last allied powers in the Pacific, an event which would have fundamentally changed the outcome of the war. Ball’s acts of service exceeded what is expected from a civilian. His selfless actions helped change the course of the war not only for his country but for the entire world.
Primary Sources
Sherwin Ball. 1936 John H. Regan High School Yearbook. Digital Images. https://ancestry.com.
Sherwin J. Ball. U.S. National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962. Digital images. https://ancestry.com.
Sherwin J. Ball. U.S. Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1835-1974. Digital images. https://ancestry.com.
Sherwin J. Ball. World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947. Digital Images. https://ancestry.com.
Texas. Houston. 1930 U.S. Federal Census. Digital images. https://ancestry.com.
Texas. Houston. 1940 U.S. Federal Census. Digital images. https://ancestry.com.
USS Houston (CA-30) in Houston Ship Channel. Photograph. 1930. Cruiser Houston Collection, University of Houston Libraries Special Collections. https://digitalcollections.lib.uh.edu/concern/images/dz010q633?locale=en#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&xywh=-348%2C-460%2C6956%2C5992.
Secondary Sources
“1936–1945 – Texas Farmers Fight: Depression and War.” Texas A&M Agrilife. Accessed April 18, 2022. https://agrilife.org/wp-content/uploads/1936-1945.pdf.
Boston, Michael R. Labor, Civil Rights, and the Hughes Tool Company. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2005. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Labor_Civil_Rights_and_the_Hughes_Tool_C/pHJ2ZGH95I4C?hl=en&gbpv=0.
Chapman, Betty T. “Early Houston manufacturers met need for wartime necessities.” Houston Business Journal, February 18, 2011. https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/print-edition/2011/02/18/early-houston-manufacturers-met-need.html.
Draut, Joel. “A Glimpse of Houston during World War II.” The Houston Review, 2012. https://houstonhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/a-glimpse-of-houston.pdf.
Moore, Tom. “Sherwin J. Ball.” China National Aviation Corporation. Accessed April 18, 2022. https://www.cnac.org/ball01.htm.
“Sherwin J Ball.” National Cemetery Administration. Accessed March 3, 2022. https://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/.
“Texas in World War II.” Texas Historical Commission.” Texas Historical Commission. Updated March 12, 2021. Accessed April 18, 2022. www.thc.texas.gov/preserve/projects-and-programs/military-sites/texas-world-war-ii.
Wiggins, Melanie. Torpedoes in the Gulf: Galveston and the U-boats, 1942-1943. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1995.
The American Battle Monuments Commission operates and maintains 26 cemeteries and 31 federal memorials, monuments and commemorative plaques in 17 countries throughout the world, including the United States.
Since March 4, 1923, the ABMC’s sacred mission remains to honor the service, achievements, and sacrifice of more than 200,000 U.S. service members buried and memorialized at our sites.
