alvin G. Turkington was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1914. His parents were David G. and Vernetta Z. Turkington. The Us Census 1930 shows the family in Chadron, Nebraska while the US Census 1940 has them living in Chicago. Turkington's next of kin is registered as Marie K. Jacob Turkington (wife) of Chicago.

Turkington was inducted into the military service in 1942, and was trained as an aerial gunner. He was sent overseas, and assigned to a combat crew known as the Stoulil crew in England. He flew his first combat mission on December 24, 1943.

He flew a total of 18 missions with the Stoulil crew, and 6 more with the Parker crew, but was severely wounded on April 21, 1944. While in the hospital, the mission quota was raised from 25 to 35, so his combat tour continued.

On September 28, 1944, a bomber force set out to bomb the Krupp Grunsonwerke A.G. plant at Magdeburg, Germany. Turkington was a substitute gunner on this mission. As the bomb run started, the formation was attacked by a large number of German fighters.

The aircraft was one of nine out of eleven that was shot down. Both left engines were out, gas was streaming from a ruptured wing tank, and German fighters continued to rake the B-17 with machine gun and cannon fire. Turkington was shot in the chest while in position, and crawled into the waist section where he died. The ball turret assembly was demolished, killing that gunner. An internal explosion blew the radio operator from the plane and killed him.

Six men managed to bail out and reach the ground. They were immediately captured, and one was murdered by civilians while another was murdered by German troops. As a surviving crew man attempted to aid an injured fellow crew man, he was taken away by German guards and murdered. Three managed to survive and become POWs.

The dead were buried in local cemeteries, and retrieved later by Allied troops. They were moved to other cemeteries. Sgt Turkington was moved to the American Cemetery at Margraten, Holland where he lies in Plot K, Row 8, Grave 10.