Pima Air Museum, Spring 2009

An interesting sequel to our April 2009 museum visit was watching my husband Al fly his hand launch radio controlled glider. The rain and wind that day, never friendly to glider pilots, let up just in time for Don and Chuck to watch the glider catch a thermal and fly about 500 feet over the dessert.

My husband and I were given a tour of the Pima Air and Space Museum by Chuck Foreman and Don Manke during a vacation trip to Arizona in April, 2009. Because of my husband's life long interest in aviation, and my much shorter interest in WWII gliders, we visit aviation museums whenever we can.

We attended our first WWII Glider Pilot Reunion in Dayton, Ohio, in 2008 and met the organization leader, George Theis. Last spring George kindly put us in touch with Chuck and Dan, association members who live in Phoenix. The two gentlemen took us to the Pima Museum to see the glider exhibit, the training gliders and Chuck's own plane. The small glider exhibit today has a CG-4A glider cockpit with every feature of the original, thanks to volunteers Chuck and Don.

Later we enjoyed the many stories told around the sandwich shop table. Chuck heard that I didn't have the Air Medals my uncle earned for Normandy and Holland, although I did have the documentation. He promised to send them to me and he did just that, so the glider pilot decorations will be the subject of a future log. My husband and I appreciate the friendship and help Chuck and Dan gave us at the museum an last fall at the WWII glider Pilot reunion in New Orleans.

Our first visit to the Pima Air and Space Museum was in 1997 a few years after I received the scrapbook my grandmother had made of my uncle's WWII glider pilot memorabilia. Knowing absolutely nothing about cargo gliders, my interest was captured by the wall photographs and especially the partial CG-4A displayed at the museum. Seeing the egg shell fragile cockpit of a Waco glider such as the one my uncle piloted, led me to want to know more. Flight Officer Sylvan Lucier died in a glider accident shortly after returning from the Holland mission called Market Garden. My research began because of my 1997 visit to this museum and I continue today to seek details of his life from January 1942 to October 1944. What a transformation for a quiet 25 year old accountant to become a highly experienced glider pilot and a survivor of D-Day in France and D-Day+1 in Holland!

In 1997 the Pima Air Museum had no books on gliders. I found some used books on the internet and spoke by phone to Rex Shama, author of Pulse and Repulse. Rex's book is about all the eight glider missions including his experiences in the 49th Squadron of the 313 Troop Carrier Group. He confirmed for me that Sylvan was in one of the earliest glider training programs in 1942 and in 1943 he was assigned to the 49th squadron stationed in Africa and then in Sicily. In my earlier blog there are some photographs from that period.

Rex Shama, however, could not confirm for me the family stories that Sylvan had been in D-Day or Market Garden. He did not know what assignment Sylvan was given after leaving the 49th Squadron in Sicily. I reached a dead end. It took my examination of a returned V-mail, to learn about his transfer to the 36th Squadron. My grandmother's scrapbook carried little documentation to aid my research until the occasion of his death nine months later!

To see a complete CG-4A, our trip a few years later was to the Silent Wings Museum in Terrill, Texas. There we donated a copy of Sylvan's glider pilot memorabilia and bought more books. Some years later we visited the Silent Wings Museum in its new home in Lubback, Texas. This is where the 2010 Glider Pilot Reunion will be held.

Glider Pilot Christmas Greeting, 1942, Dalhart TX

Of the many cards my uncle F/O Sylvan Lucier sent home,
this Christmas card with Glider Pilot wings is most meaningful!
My best wishes to WWII veterans gathered with families this week,
and my prayer for peace to those service persons today separated from family.
To those who have lost loved ones, light a candle and talk about the love that lives on.

Derwood Basham Photograph

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.

Three Brothers Write After Sylvan's Death

November 9, 1944 Darling Mother, To nite my heart is crying, and my eyes are red with tears. To nite I got your letter-”May his soul, and all the souls faithfully departed through the mercy of God, Rest in Peace”__ Mom, it is hard to believe, but now we are fighting to try and preserve, what took us so long to build up. I have seen and been with them, when they were called upon! Have helped them, cared for them on the field of battle, now it is so much more real ___ Mother, this Sunday, I am going to have a mass said for my brother, and my Communion will be offered up for the repose of his soul. I feel to nite, as if Sylvan were here, looking over my shoulder, trying to tell me some thing.__ Maybe you know it already, but I have been on the rotation list for several weeks, and now I'll be home. My time in the company and also my evacuation put me on top so I will be home. Sylvan wrote me a nice long letter dated October 10. He told me about his last experience, so I wrote him right back. But he will never get it! (This would have been his role in the Liberation of Holland, September 18.) Mother and Dad, I know that God had a place for your son. He was always faithful, and never doubtful! He loved his religion, and in a way, he offered his life for it. I have seen Catholic men dying in the field, with a priest over them, and they all “went”, with a prayer on their lips, the same as my brother went.__ My prayers will be offered up for you and Dad, to ask God to shower His blessings down upon all of you. Yes, I'm crying, because I am so helpless. But Mom dear, I'll be O.K. I am going home soon, and I know I'll be able to help your broken heart. Your loving Son, Dolly (Delphis)

Delphis Wayne Lucier
Staff Sargeant, served in the Southwest Pacific for three years. He was in Guadalcanal & Bougainville with the 164 North Dakota Infantry, Hq. Co. He received the Combat Infantryman Badge for Combat duty as a radioman on Bougainville and with intelligence on Guadalcanal. He also received the Presidential Unit Citation, Good Conduct, American Defense, and Asiatic-Pacific Ribbons.

Wednesday Nov. 1st
Dear Mom & Dad; I had just came into camp from the Bivouac Area when I called Mary and she told me about Sylvan. It is the hardest thing to believe or should I say to realize that I have ever heard. To think that Sylvan is gone and that we will never see or hear him again. Our thoughts and sympathies are with you and we hope and pray that God will give you the strength to bear our loss. Please write us the details as soon as you hear. We are all well here – I have one more week in the field. I have to go back out again to nite and this news is pretty hard to take back with me. We are enclosing an offering for a Mass for Sylvan. I will close for now as there is not much more I can say. So Long for now Bernard, Mary & Bunny
1st Lt. Bernard Frances Lucier, Medical Corp-USA, Abilene Texas.

Dearest Mom and Dad The news came as such a shock to me so I know how you and Dad must grieve the loss of such a good Son. We can be thankful that we know he was right with his God and his soul is in heaven. I do hope that God will give to you help to bear up under this terrible strain and remember he died for God and Country and all the things that go to make up our way of living. If I were only home to be with you and help. I can't say more as words are meaningless. Please Mom, carry on in your wonderful way and I know everything will work out. Take care of Dad All my love to the greatest Mother and Father as man ever had. Lan (Lawrence) Lucier
Lawrence Joseph Lucier,
1st Sqt. Medical Corp in the Pacific, New Guinea, Australia, Leyte, Tokyo.

Thomas Edward Lucier
Pvt. 1st Class, 3rd Infantry division in Germany, 1944 – 1946. He was a journalist for Frontline- the 3rd Division Newspaper. The younger brother, born in 1926, Tom was in High School when Sylvan died in 1944. He enlisted before turning 18. Tom lives with wife Anne in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

The Telegram From Washington

Flight Officer, Sylvan Lucier was in the middle of a large family. He enlisted in January 1942. Three brothers were already in the service. Eva and Del had a lot to worry about during the war years. The mail delivery must have been an important part of each day. One piece of mail that was dreaded was the telegram. And one day it came.

Eva Lucier, my grandmother, kept the numerous cards her son Sylvan sent her, as well as information about his pilot and glider training in the states. Among her most cherished letters were those from her sons in the service, sent when their brother in arms, Sylvan, died. The letters sent from "Dolly", Bernard, and "Lanny" are respectfully transcribed here in my hope that they will lend understanding to my generation who grew up with the residual effects of war, benefited by the sacrifices of our elders.

To Fly On Eagle's Wings

Sylvan Ralph Lucier, to whom this blog is dedicated, was in the first or second class of pilots to earn the wings of a glider pilot in August of 1942. The first class was not large, and the program was just being developed. His wings have the G (for glider, but some will say for guts) attached instead of part of the mold.

As a man of 26 years, with a college business degree when he joined , Sylvan probably felt fortunate to be able join the Army Air Force where he could become an aviator. He had a fascination for airplanes and seems to have enjoyed soaring as much as the enthusiasts today.

Although he later flew much less graceful gliders in missions (the CG 4A & the British Horsa) I know his early training was something he enjoyed sharing with his folks at home. For a few months, he was "on eagles wings"all over the south west. A time line of his training, following the pictures, shows the many locations where he flew.

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.

Letter of New Pilot to Mother

C.A. ACZD
Oxnard CAl
April 25, 1942
Dearest Mother,
After a man has soloed for the first time in the U.S. Army Air Corps, he is allowed to wear a little wing in his flight cap. Now that I have soloed, I can wear the wing and I am sending you its mate. It is the tradition here to send the little wing to the girl friend but I much rather send mine to my best friend my mother.
All my love,
Sylvan

Sylvan Lucier in Glider Training

WHY FLY A GLIDER?
All glider pilots were volunteers. Why would someone choose to become a glider pilot? Sylvan was a very quiet person and family tell me that when he left home to join Army pilot training at age 26, it was as if he was not gone. This was in contrast to when his older brother, Lanny, left. Sylvan enlisted January 1942. He was the fourth son to enlist.
FIVE BROTHERS WOULD SERVE
Tom Lucier, the fifth and youngest son of Eva and Delphis Lucier, tells me was in high school when the US entered the war. He would join upon finishing school and serve as a journalist in Bavaria Germany, writing for "The Frontline", the newspaper of the Third Infantry Division. Some stories he wrote, based on interviews of soldiers, were picked up and printed in "Stars and Stripes." My research request to the Stars and Stripes museum did not produce anything, but I haven't given up. Sylvan's brother, Lanny Lucier (Lawrence) really got me hooked on learning more about my mother's brothers. I visited him in 1997 and tape recorded hours of his stories. Unfortunately I never knew Bernard Lucier or Dolly (Dephis) Lucier. Their names are all engraved in the new World War II Memorial, thanks to Lanny and his wife Dorothy. The four brothers returned to tell their story to their children, my cousins. Sylvan did not return and since he died single and without children, I am a surrogate offspring for him I suppose, appointed by my mother.

Ed Landell, Sylvan Lucier, Ben Grobman, Keaton McCarty

A PILOT'S FRIENDS
The photograph shows friends of Sylvan:
"Just some of the boys."
Ed (Edward E.) Landell, Sylvan Lucier (in background), Ben Grobman, and Keaton McCarty.

Glider Pilot Lucier, early 1942

FROM POWER TO SILENT WINGS
Was it his intention to be a power pilot? That is likely. However, a letter to his mother a year later in Africa said that he had chronic high blood pressure and although he did not wear glasses in the military, he expected he would again wear them in civilian life. Recently, the youngest brother in the family, Tom Lucier, told me that Sylvan put a few planes down a bit roughly. If that was so, he was quick to begin sailplane training with civilian soaring trainers.
I will soon be posting places and dates where Sylvan trained and the pictures of planes and gliders he trained with.
Sylvan did not train with the combat gliders flown in Europe until later, perhaps at Laurenburg/Maxton Air Base. I am not certain, but based on when he went to Africa, (April 1943) he might have flown as co-pilot in Africa on supply missions. Others with the history of the 49th Squadron of the 313 Troop Carrier Group might be able to help me with that.

Monument Design/Brief History

The monument for the grave site of Sylvan R. Lucier and his parents, Eva and Delphis Lucier,was installed in Holy Cross Cemetery, Fargo, North Dakota in June 2006. The design was chosen by Sylvan's niece, Anne Hilber Nephew, with the blessing of Tom Lucier, the remaining sibling of Sylvan, and another niece, Virginia (Barbara) Deibert, who lovingly cares for the grave sites.
The front of the monument has a rosary on the top left. According to Sylvan's brother, Lannie, Eva Lucier gave each of her sons a black rosary when they left for the army. On the top right side is a red flag with five stars which was displayed in the Lucier's front window. Sylvan was the fourth son in his family to enlist (he would not have been drafted), which explains the four blue stars. If a soldier died a gold star was fixed over the blue star. In Sylvan's case the gold star was pinned to one side because after his death the fifth son graduated from high school and enlisted.
On the back of the monument is etched the WACO CG 4A glider ( tail number 43-41701) that he flew in the Market Garden mission to liberate Holland. The Waco Air Museum sent me photographs to guide our art work.
The places Sylvan served are printed across the base. In February 1943 Sylvan left Laurinberg/Maxton Air Base where he was with the 374 Troup Carrier Group to join the 313 TCG, 49th Squadron to served in Africa and Sicily.
In April, 1944, he was assigned to the 316 TCG, 36th SQ for invasion preparations in England. As a glider pilot trainer he also flew the British Horsa glider and thus was given a temporary assignment in th 438 TCG, 88th SQ to bring men and equipment into Normandy on June 6. His drop zone was the Ste Mere-Eglise area.
On September 18, Sylvan flew a CG 4A glider, without a co-pilot, that landed near Groesbeek, Holland. Less than a month later he and two others died in an accident flying double tow near Tiffield, Northamptonshire, England.
More details, documents and photographs will be posted in the future, as well as details of his year training in the US.
Anne Hilber Nephew
eanephew@aol.com

Burial Site in Fargo, North Dakota

Statement of Purpose:
I would like to correspond with anyone (including familly or descendents) who know Flight Officer Sylvan R. Lucier, T-120666, Army Air Corp. I will soon be posting a detailed time line of Sylvan's training as a glider pilot and the locations his mail came from in Europe as well as details of his death in the line of duty in England. As I develop each stage of his career, I will have pictures and documents as well. I will be especially interested in corresponding with decendents of the pilots in photographs and mentioned on official reports I will post here. Your information would greatly enrich this commemorative blog.
I have many family stories that need verification. One is that Sylvan flew a demonstration glider over New York or Washington DC to encourage congress to manufacture gliders for the war. Another is that Sylvan's co-pilot was killed in a mission when they were shot down. Also, I am most ignorant of what Sylvan was doing in Africa and Sicily when he was with the 49th Squadron. Hopefully, as I organize and publish the information I have, more will appear.
I also hope my work on this blog will encourage my generation, ( Born nine months after Pearl Harbor I am the earliest of the Baby Boomers) to learn whatever they can about the conditions during and following the war that affected our upbringing. As a niece of a deceased glider pilot, growing up in a non military family, I have had to learned everything from books I purchased in recent years about the glider missions. The taped interviews of Sylvan's friends and family, the glider museum visits and the correspondence with troop carrier historians has awakened in me a passion for the past and the challenges of preserving a fully human perspective of history. Today with the internet, the resources are closer than our doorstep.
In 1995, on the 50th anniversity of the end of World War II in Europe, in reply to my inquiry about my uncle's death, my mother passed on the scrapbook made by her mother. My own mother had never before allowed herself to peruse this collection of memoriabilia. The pain was still too much for her 50 years later! As I began my research I began to know the person my uncle was before he joined the service. He died single but with many, many cousins, nieces and nephews and now hundreds of their descendents. Perhaps he can have a kind of life beyond his 28 years, if I can restore some of the past with the help of others.
Anne Hilber Nephew