Glider Mechanic, Derwood Basham

About a year ago I received an email from Steven Owen regarding his great uncle, glider mechanic Derwood Basham who died in the same accident that took my uncle's life October 13, 1944 in Tiffield England. No doubt the blog I created for my uncle brought us together. I have sent Steven and his mother every piece of information I have about the glider accident and sent a DVD of our interviews with the local people who remember the tragic crash. The kindness of the people of Tiffield and the museum and cemetery staff has meant a lot to Steven and his mother, as it has to me.

I am going to post, with Steven's permission, some information received about Derwood. I will continue to follow what leads I can find about the role of the glider mechanics so I can later improve the telling of Derwood's contribution to the WWII glider missions. I must assume that Derwood was in the glider that fateful day because he had constructed the new gliders that were being towed that day. They were needed after the loss of so many gliders in the Holland mission. He was probably joining the 36th Squadron to continue the maintenance of gliders.

According to Steven Owen, his grandmother, Thelma Basham Brown, was very close to her brother and never recovered from his loss. Derwood was one of ten children. He was extremely close to his mother. On his last visit home he had great distress over returning to duty. "I feel possibly he had a premonition of what was to come. I don't know for sure," wrote Steven. Derwood's mother, Ollie Crowder Basham, was devastated by his death. He was engaged to be married after his discharge from military service. "I doubt she ever recovered from the loss; As a child she gave to me before her death Derwood's coins he collected while abroad and they mean a great deal to me today," says Steven.

Derwood was born January 19, 1919, in Roanoka,Virginia. He was stationed in Tennessee. Steven has not been able to locate more information about his service. Today he is buried at Sherwood Cemetery in a family plot in Salem Va. He was first buried in England and Steven thinks the family paid to have him brought back. Today he has two surviving sisters, one in Salem and one in Baltimore MD. Steven writes, "Most of his siblings lived to be over 90 so it is a pity he died so young. He started as an apprentice to my great grandfather in his own plumbing business until he entered the military. My great grandfather I'm told as well, gave up after the death. He sold his business and a farm and was never quite himself after losing his son."

All this sounds so much like the story of my Uncle Sylvan's family life. Some day, after I have written what I know and constructed from books what I don't know, about Sylvan Lucier's nearly three years as a glider pilot, I will share the bits of his personal life story.