Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements
From time to time it may be necessary to interrupt the chronological sequence of this memorial blog. In my first post a few months ago I explained that I lack a great deal of information about my uncle's activities as a WW2 glider pilot and I wish to hear from anyone who can help me. I know there are many untapped sources of information but after ten years of WW2 glider research and trying to get to know the person my uncle was, I need to begin to organize and publish what I do have about his contribution to aviation history. The aviation museums and glider history books gave me a broad view of glider contribution to the war effort. Every new museum and every new book has converted me. This Medieval mystery reader has become a part time WW2 history detective. A specialist in elementary education, I'm still a total novice at military history. So as I build my uncle's story I must mention the places I have visited and the books I continue to pour over for details.
Scrapbooking 60 Years Ago
My grandmother's scrapbook is my main source of inspiration. It has very little memorabilia about the European war, but lots about his pilot/glider training in 1942. And it contains every greeting card sent her by Sylvan and every sympathy letter and card she received after his death. Sylvan didn't return from the war like his four brothers did, but if he had, I feel he would have been like them, and not spoken much about his work in the war. And nobody would have asked because they wanted to forget the war. The Luciers (Sylvan had four brothers and four sisters) always had a jolly time when they got together. All it required was a deck of cards and a bottle of wine. As it turned out, my mother, close in age to Sylvan, couldn't forget the war and we children (there are eleven of us) spent a lot of time during the Korean War and "the cold war" on our knees praying for peace! And every Christmas we had a special celebration of peace in Sylvan's memory. My mother put many of hours of work each year into her memorial to her brother.
Verifying Family Stories
My objective was to find documentation of what my uncle, Sylvan R. Lucier, did in Europe and Africa. We all knew he died in a glider accident on October 13, 1944 after returning to England from Holland. Everyone says he trained glider pilots. Some told me he participated in D Day in Normandy. Little was known about his activities before his death and his letters are gone except for the few kept by his mother. I know from another letter that Sylvan wrote a letter to his brother, Delphis (Dolly), who had been evacuated from the Pacific. It was dated October 10, 1944, just before his death. In it he told about about his experience in Holland, but that letter is probably gone. By 1997 when I began this research I was fortunate he had one older brother I could interview (and later, a younger brother) and also I taped an interview of his best friend, Bill Buck, from high school & college. The personal picture they gave me of my uncle greatly increased my interest in researching my uncle's aviation career.
Old And New Tools Made It Happen
Using the internet I sent messages to every website I found dealing with the topic of WW2 gliders. But I needed more "tags" just to locate where Sylvan served. The most valuable clues were addresses on a few letters. One poignant V-mail had been forwarded to various TC Groups before it finally returned to my mother, following Sylvan's death. Clarissa Lucier Hilber, died in 1995 but she is assisting my research even now. Now I know three squadrons Sylvan served in during the 18 months he was overseas.
The Big Break Came
Rex Shama, a glider pilot with the 49th Squadron, 313 Troop Carrier Group, wrote a book, Pulse and Repulse, which I read after visiting the Silent Wings Museum in 1997. Mr. Shama could not find my uncle's name on the list of 49th Sq. pilots in Normandy or Holland. I was at a standstill for some years. Then the tiny V-mail returned to my mother revealed a blackened out September 1944 address as the 36th Squadron of the 313 TCG. A correspondent from the Netherlands, Hans den Brok, referred me to the book, Valor Without Arms, A History of the 316 Troop Carrier Group, 1942-1945, by Mike Ingrisano. We quickly ordered the book, as well as his delightful book, And Nothing is Said, Wartime Letters August 5, 1943-April 21, 1945. Because of Mike I have Sylvan's after action "Interrogation Report" from the Holland mission to share later on this blog.
One Source Leads To Another
In Mike's book I found a document of Orders for Temporary Duty, (Appendix VI) assigning pilots of the 316 who could fly the huge British Horsa gliders, to 53 Troop Carrier Wing. Here are the names of F/O Sylvan R. Lucier and also F/O Irving W. Krohn . They would both fly in Normandy, perhaps in the same glider (I need to find out) and later they would co-pilot a glider (during a double tow) hauling freight from one air base to another in England. They died together (and also the mechanic Derwood M. Basham) as their glider would collide with the other. I have searched the internet without success for descendents of Mr. Krohn and Mr. Basham. I was able to obtain the recently declassified aviation accident report and will share it on this blog.
Work To Be Done
Sylvan's temporary duty at Greenham Commons with the 88 Squadron of the 438 TC Group (the address on the returned V-mail) would put him in the D-Day glider mission code-named Elmira. I am still deciphering the description of the Normandy Invasion from Glidermen of Neptune-American D Day Glider Attack by Charles Masters. It will be hard to give a digest form of what Sylvan Lucier's experience was likely to have been that day.