WWII Glider Pilot on Hell's Highway

I was recently gifted with a photo of my uncle, F/O Sylvan Lucier, found in a photo album that was donated to the Silent Wings Museum in Lubbock, Texas. It is wonderful that the album creator, a fellow glider pilot with the 316th TCG, put names on photos! It must be the last photo before my uncle died, October 13, 1944.

I am grateful to Hans den Brok, a Dutch researcher who has helped me for years, for finding this photo of my uncle. It belongs in the narrative of Sylvan's After Action Report posted earlier on this blog:
"After much confusion we finally were relieved and on Sunday, September 24, we started by motor convoy to Brussels. We ran into a German Ambush and had to wait a couple days for the road to open again. We did make it to Brussels on September 27 and flew back to home station."

With such a wonderful photograph to add to my uncle's story, I naturally was curious about where it was taken. Hans was on the trail to find the location, searching photographs of Veghel and Uden. He found a photo taken in front of that same building in Uden, in a book, Operation Market Garden, Then & Now by Karel Margry, After The Battle Publisher. The building in the far background is distinctive. It is gone today but was previously a hospital. In the same scene today there are new buildings in the background.

An earlier photo I have shows Sylvan in dress uniform, on leave in Italy, before the 316 TCG leaves Sicily for England, around March 1944. Here we see somebody very different; the glider pilot veteran of D-Day in Normandy and D-Day+1 in Holland, in the clothing of an armed combat soldier on Hell's Highway. He landed his CG-4A glider under fire; jeep, men and equipment safe, and for a few days collected para drop bundles needed by the airborne troops. Glider pilots with the United States Army were always directed to return to base quickly for another mission, but this was often not possible.With a group of 295 (I've read different numbers), all flight officers, he volunteered to fight on the front lines in order to free the paratroopers to cross the Waal River capture the Nijmegen Bridge.

(That is from the story of the Waalcrossing by the 504 Parachute Infantry Regiment [PIR], 307 Engineers.)

On 19 September at 2100, General Gavin called the 50th Wing Glider Officer, Maj. Hugh Nevins, and told him to get 295 glider pilots lined up to take the places of the 504th troopers needed for the river crossing. The GPs, bivouacked near Groesbeek, were to go into the line on the Groesbeek Heights, which was under constant attack at the time. Most of the pilots were armed with nothing heavier than .45-cal. automatics or M-1 carbines; all were volunteers. The change took place around midnight of 19 September--two GPs into each foxhole, replacing two troopers. The glider pilots would not sleep for another 36 hours.

The pilots, though they were spared a frontal attack, were under steady fire from small arms, machine guns, and hourly attacks by mortars, 88s, and the “screaming mimis” (Nebelwerfers). However, according to Maj. Nevins, “The single most devastating ordeal was lack of sleep. . . [which was] really worse than the enemy fire.” In daylight on 21 September, Maj. Nevins was checking positions overlooking Mook when he spotted eight of the formidable Tiger tanks moving in on his lines from the Reichswald. The tanks, “looking like enormous crawling prehistoric monsters, were creaking up the railroad around our right flank. If they got behind us, they would slaughter us piecemeal. Over the field phone, I alerted battalion and division command posts, asking for anti-tank support as quickly as possible. I’m sure my voice was shaking.” Within minutes, two bazooka teams appeared and began to stalk the tanks. When they had crept up within less than fifty yards of the lead tanks, they cut loose and “literally detonated the first three tanks.” The others withdrew back into the woods. When the GPs were relieved, they had suffered 12 casualties, including two killed (Dank, a, 191-93).

Sylvan with the other glider pilots had to again fight, while on "Hell's Highway" to Belgium when they attempted to return to England as ordered:

The glider pilots were put on 26 empty trucks headed for Belgium, and evacuated on 24 September. In the 101st’s sector, just south of Veghel (see “The Unknown Hero,” the convoy was ambushed by Col. Freiherr von der Heydte’s 6th Parachute Regiment. Fortunately for the glider pilots in the convoy, the GP in charge, Capt. Elgin D. Andross, Group Glider Officer of the 313th, had previously served in the infantry. At considerable risk to his own life, Andross organized his troops, who eventually fought their way out of the ambush, killing over 100 German paratroopers. Thirteen glider pilots had been casualties, and three others were captured (Devlin, 274f).

1st-Hand Accounts: D-Day in Holland: War Diary Airborne in Action Nijmegen Waal River Crossing No Time to Die Unknown Hero Return to "From the Book" Copyright © 2001-10 Charles D. Young. All rights reserved. Last modified: 23 Nov 2010

Reasons To Attend A WWII Reunion With Dad or Grandpa

REASONS TO ATTEND A WWII REUNION WITH DAD OR GRANDPA

1. KNOWLEDGE: You will learn some important things you never knew about your parent or grandparent.

We struck up a conversation with a glider pilot and his daughter at the airport in Fayetteville in 2008. She was the last of the daughters in the family to accompany dad to his reunion. I caught up with her again a few days later and she told me she was very grateful for this time with him because there was so much she had never known about her father’s role in WWII. The outings planned for the reunions are always special, such as the World War II Museum, or being guests at an Officer’s Club for lunch. But the impromptu gatherings for breakfast, and the afternoon and evening chatter in the social center, while enjoying refreshments, is really priceless!

2. HONOR Family members present at reunions will honor their parent in the most significant way for the most important event in their life, liberating European and Pacific countries.

Traditionally, the annual reunions of various branches of WWII veterans, were attended by wartime buddies traveling together, as well as vets with their wives, and widows of vets maintaining their close friendships. Over the last three years we have seen an increase in the attendance of family members at the Troop Carrier reunion and the Glider Pilot reunion. At the Glider Pilot reunion banquet last fall in New Orleans there were 14 members of one family. As more long time organization members “take their final flight” or are unable to travel, other vets with family help are joining for the first time and new friendships are possible. The Internet has made it easier.

3. PRESERVATION You will begin the process of preserving your family history by learning the value of the WWII stories and keepsakes.

At our first reunion we had breakfast with a glider pilot who had four sons who all attended that reunion. Over the years the sons had taped all their dad’s stories, and the grandchildren all knew their grandpa’s courage. It was wonderful to meet this pilot’s four sons. What a contrast to later hear another fellow say, “My children have never shown any interest in what I did in the war.” The glider pilot was not at the reunion the following year because of his death but two of his sons were there to honor him and receive an award in his memory.

It is important to make a plan about what will happen to the papers, photos, decorations, letters and maybe a journal your parent has saved. Aviation museums state historic societies and private collectors are interested if the family’s next generation cannot care for them. They are too precious to throw away!

4. FRIENDSHIP Your spouse, father or grandparent (uncle, great uncle) will meet other veterans with similar experience and maybe the new friend(s) will lighten the ache as other buddies “make the final flight.”

I was standing a long time examining the CG-4A glider at the Airborne Museum in Fayetteville, NC, during the Troop Carrier reunion in 2008. A veteran began to talk to me about the glider. He told me he had been a power pilot, usually flying the C-47. However, for the last Glider mission, crossing the Rhine into Germany, he had been ordered to fly a glider! That fact that some power pilots flew gliders completely astonished me because I had not learned this in any glider book. Sitting on a bench nearby were a couple that became interested in our conversation. Most amazing, this was another power pilot who was ordered to fly a glider in the Rhine mission! The two fellows and their wives found out they lived not far apart and made plans to get together again. I left them beaming happily.

5. AMERICAN HISTORY If you ever hated history because it was so much memorizing of gibberish, you could come to know real history; the stories of the struggles and courage of our kinfolk, who are as important to our country’s history as colonial soldiers at Valley Forge or the State Militias at Gettysburg.

After meeting the real item, a WWII veteran, check out a book from the library about their mission and then rent a video. Also a WW II Atlas is useful. Very soon you will know much more than the average American who has retained very little from his or her American History class where typically book chapters were not relevant, personal, or tangible! When you learn a little bit more about the war, you will still be light years behind the European child who learns from grandparents and teachers why they are free today, and who annually visits an American Cemetery with flowers for an adopted American grave. Then if you step into research further you will find that some of the most helpful folk on the Internet are from the European countries our fathers defended.

6. PEACE PRAYER If you have always hated wars of any kind, you can go on hating war and you will have even greater reason. These guys, after 65 years, are sometimes still living, in their dreams, the terrible situation of riding a glider, landing behind enemy lines and seeing their buddies killed. No one hates war more than a vet who was in that action!

In the fall of 2009 in New Orleans we met a fellow who attended the reunion with his daughter, whom he lives with. He was a glider infantryman, the first I have met. He landed in a glider behind enemy lines six or seven times. That means he had to survive a gut wrenching turbulent tow from the home base, the aerial flak as they entered enemy territory, and what was usually a crash landing in a field littered with other broken gliders. He still had to escape the glider, usually under fire, and probably also unload transported materials. But that was only the beginning because until the reinforcements arrived he had to fight the enemy in same way paratroopers did when they landed. I can’t imagine doing this in repeated missions! I felt so privileged to meet him.

At my first reunion I met a C-47 pilot who knew about my uncle’s death in a personal way. We invited a couple to join our table in the small restaurant in Fort Walton Beach, FL in 2008. We learned he was a pilot with the same Troop Carrier Group as my uncle. I introduced myself and he said quietly to me, “I know about your uncle.” Later I asked if he knew the pilot who towed my uncle’s glider the day of the fatal accident. He said softly, “He was my best friend. He died last year.” It was a very emotional moment for both of us.

I then realized the shock of my uncle’s death was much larger than a long term family tragedy. The accident had deeply affected those who knew the pilot, co-pilot and mechanic in their troop carrier group. The shock of that day, including details that would never be known to his family, never left the minds of some who knew him.

While my husband and I were listening to some of the gentleman’s youthful aviation stories I told his wife it must be fascinating being married to this man. She said that he never spoke about his war experiences except at the reunions.

7. UNDERSTANDING OURSELVES If you were a baby boomer, or born a bit earlier like I was, you will understand more about yourself and your important early years growing up in post war American. Understanding your parents can be critical to your development as a person.

This is where it gets personal. When I went to college it was to study psychology. I wanted to understand why my mother left me twice while I was under five years of age and again later when I was eleven years old. I understand now that her hospitalization was due to her brother’s death and to the return of his body in 1948 for burial in his hometown. A child would not be told about such events.

Growing up with five brothers and five sisters in the 1950s we had lots of war surplus material for our fantasy play, which was also fueled by our uncle who we considered a hero. A strong memory of mine is that when we asked our gentle grandfather to tell us about our uncle, grandmother would immediately see a need for his morning nap. When I started this family research it was explained to me by an older cousin that my grandfather’s grief was so severe he had to be hospitalized. And when the body was returned for burial in 1948 that trauma was repeated. Mental illness was considered shameful and the remedies in those days were severe! The suffering of those who lose loved ones must be the heaviest cost of war. Surely the countries across Europe and Asia know this better than we Americans!

From Christmas 1945 until her death in 1995, my mother continued a Christmas peace project that she had created in her brother’s memory. She clung to her "hobby" as a way to make sense out of his death. She would start each fall after the anniversary of his death (as I learned later) and work for two months mailing reminders to thousands of people to celebrate brotherhood and world peace at Christmas. After the 50th anniversary of D-Day I happened to ask her to tell me about her brother. She sent me to her closet to bring out a treasure! She had never been able to look at the scrapbook my grandmother had made of her son's, Sylvan Lucier's, pilot training, assignments and other memorabilia. My mom and I read the many pages together and that started the journey I’ve been on to reconstruct my uncle’s life.

Glider & Troop Carrier Reunions & Conferences in 2010

WWII Glider Symposium
Contact: Charles Day
gliderman.one@verizon.net
September 9-11, 2010
Place: Madison, Wisconsin
Marriott Madison West
1313 John Q. Hammons Dr.
Middleton, Wisc.

WWII Glider Pilot Association
Contact: George Theis
WW2GP@aol.com
(Includes Affiliates Members)
October 7-9, 2010
Place: Silent Wing Museum
Lubbach, Texas

Troop Carrier Community
(Ten or more groups together.)
Contact: Mark Durivage
mdurivage@hotmail.com
November 11-14, 2010
Place: Detroit, Michigan