A military historian’s deep dive into the details of what happened to a single plane lost in 1944 during the Allied invasion of Normandy instantly changed the significance of D-Day for Nancy Baran Voll and her husband, Gregory Voll, of Homewood.
in the Polish contingent of the Royal
Canadian Air Force. He was nicknamed
”Kye,” spoke fluent Polish thanks to his
immigrant parents. He anglicized his name
to Steve. In 1943, he transferred to the
U.S. Army Air Force. (Photo courtesy
of Greg and Nancy Voll)
Growing up, Nancy and her brother, Bob Baran, heard stories about an Uncle Steve they had never met, but whose face they could imagine because Steve was their dad’s twin brother. All they knew was that Steve had died in a D-Day plane crash in World War II and that he was buried in the American Cemetery in Normandy.
“I knew he was a pilot, and that’s all I knew,” Nancy said. “I didn’t know he was transporting troops.”
About 18 months ago Nancy learned much more about Uncle Steve when her brother was contacted by Col. Paul Herbert (retired), a military historian for the First Division Museum at Cantigny in Wheaton, which “… interprets military history through the lens of the U.S. Army’s First Infantry Division.”
Herbert’s immediate mission was to locate family members of 16 paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division and the plane’s four crew members, including Steve Baran, all of whom died when their C-47 plane was shot down by German forces in the early hours of D-Day. The Baran family was one of the last Herbert was able to find.
The objective of Herbert’s search was to invite relatives of D-Day forces to fly to France as part of Delta Air Lines/Best Defense Foundation Honor Flight for a special event at the C-47 Memorial Garden that stands on the site where Steve Baran’s plane was shot down.
and 23 World War II veterans and their attendants were flown to France
on a Delta Air Lines Honor Flight to participate in a ceremony at the
C-47 memorial park in Normandy.(Photo by Karen Torme Olson)
“This gentleman (Herbert) who contacted my brother actually came out to my brother’s house,” Nancy said. “He sat down and gave us almost a lecture on everything (the soldiers) went through leading up to that day. He just made everything come alive.
“We found out that there was a first wave of planes in the invasion, and they got in easily because the Germans hadn’t been alerted yet. My uncle was part of the second group, and by the time Steve was going through, the Germans were starting to fire. The plane crashed in the triangle where the memorial is.”
The crash site was left untouched for decades until a local French businesswoman and WWII buff, Marie-Pascale LeGrand, noticed that the triangular parcel of land had not been sold or farmed. LeGrand purchased the land with the help of the Fort Campbell Historical Foundation and organized its development into a memorial garden in the shape of the plane that crashed there.
“They’re going to have a special ceremony (June 4) at the garden, and my brother is actually going to do a little speech. I think the actual dedication of the garden was in 2020 and also again last year, which was the 80th anniversary of D-Day. The Barans had been located by Herbert just months before D-Day’s 80th and, Nancy said “. . . it came up so fast there was no way we were ready to go then.”
However, this year they made it. Besides Nancy and Greg Voll, the Honor Flight’s manifest includes 23 WWII veterans, all of whom are over the age of 100 and reportedly served in Normandy. They are joined by their helpers, and a group of college-aged students who were on the flight to learn from the vets.
Before take-off for France, the Honor Flight guests were treated to a celebratory dinner at Delta’s museum in Hapeville, Georgia, near the Atlanta airport. The next day, they took off for Deauville, France, and were greeted at the end of the tarmac with a VIP reception that included bagpipers, U.S. Embassy representatives, military brass and WWII veteran Arlester Brown, who was scheduled to be the speaker representing the vets.
“They are throwing us one party after another,” Greg said. “We’re having lunch with a duchess, a barbecue at someone else’s house and there is a gala dinner some other night.”
The Barans said that visiting the C-47 Memorial is only one of many events they will experience during their time in Normandy. On their one free day, they went to the American Cemetery next to Omaha Beach since there would not be time on the official visit, Greg said.
“Since this was a first family visit, they escorted us to the grave,” Greg said. At that visit, the Barans were given sand from Omaha Beach to rub into the carving on Steve Baran’s grave marker so the letters would stand out.
“There’s a lot of history there,” Nancy said. “And they are so wonderful by honoring us like this, but we didn’t do anything. It was just my uncle, whom I never even met.”
For more on the C-47 Memorial, click here.
