As the world commemorates the 75thanniversary of D-DAY this year, I felt a new sense of urgency and family duty to visit Chuckie’s grave to honor his memory and contribution to freedom. No one from our family had ever visited his grave. They never had passports, didn’t know anyone French and never traveled abroad. On a bright sunny Spring day in May, I journeyed to a beautiful cemetery nestled in the heart of a small village, Draguignan, in Southern France and visited Chuckie’s grave.
US Army Staff Sergeant Charles “Chuckie” Melvin Wilson, 36thBomb Squad, 801stBomb Group, was killed in action on 28 April 1944 along with four other American aviators when his B-24 ‘Liberator’ Bomber crashed in the French village of Saint-Cyr-de-Valorges on a secret mission to supply the French resistance in advance of D-Day. He is permanently interred in the military war grave cemetery Rhone American Cemetery and Memorial located in Draguignan, France. The site was selected because of its historic location along the route of the U.S. Seventh Army’s drive up the Rhone Valley.
When I arrived the cemetery, staff members we at the gate to greet me. They were so warm and friendly and said how honored they always are when family members visit especially for the first time. The didn’t have any records or photographs of Chuckie on file so were particularly pleased I had made the trip and compiled this blog. It has helped them complete his story and will be included in ongoing educational programs and future memorial commemorative ceremonies. That alone made it all worth it.
For what is remembered lives.
I was given a white lily and taken to the row where Chuckie is laid to rest. Staff told me to walk on up ahead and I would soon came upon his headstone. They gave me a few moments alone to walk the few paces when I soon found him.. I didn’t know what to expect or how I would feel. What began casually a few months before as a simple desk research project to learn about a family member I didn’t know had now become an involved writing project published and shared with thousands of followers around the world on this blog and our Facebook page. Now being at the final resting place of all these young men and Chuckie that day I was filled with emotion that was sadness, gratitude – a but hugely inspired by the meaning of this unexpected journey.
Since neither Chuckie’s parents nor his siblings were ever able in their lifetime to visit his gravesite to say a final goodbye, I brought along a few items that his mother and brother had personally touched. A cotton flannel blanket of his mother Evie was placed over his grave. It was likely in her possession from the 1920s when the family lived at her ancestral home deep in south among the cotton fields of Mississippi. The wedding ring of Chuckie’s brother JB (and the father of this author’s mother) was placed on top of the cross headstone. It was the only personal item I had that he’d touched so seemed appropriate and meant to be.
I said a silent prayer of gratitude for his service and the ability to symbolically bring Chuckie the warmth of one last hug from his mother that he’d waited 75 years for.
The ultimate sacrifice, the unforgotten glory of their deeds.
The cemetery staff and a few other visitors joined me and gathered around Chuckie’s grave for a brief ceremony. First a moment of silence, then I shared the story of Chuckie, his family and what we came to learn about his brave service. We all reflected upon all the brave young men of the Allied Forces who fought and died in WWII and the glory of their deeds that shall not be forgotten.
Unforgotten Glory 