For decades, William McGowan was officially “Missing in action”, “missing in action”. We had to wait for excavations in 2018 and then the identification of the body in 2019, so that this American pilot could join the soldiers who died in the battles of the Second World War.
A long way before being able to find the body of the soldier
On June 6, 1944, Second Lieutenant William McGowan crashed with his plane P-47 at Moon-sur-Elle, north of Saint-Lô in the English Channel. He was 23 and married just four months before getting involved. The wreckage of his aircraft was found in 1947 thanks to the testimonies of inhabitants of the commune, but not his body. It was finally discovered after an excavation of the site in 2018, it was then identified in 2019.
His family therefore chose to bury him in Normandy, at the American military cemetery in Colleville-sur-mer. rather than bringing him back to his country. A rare event, “It’s only the second time this has happened in my 15-year career,” says Scott Desjardin, site manager.
– Sarah Saltiel-Ragot
The epilogue of a family history
78 years that the family of William McGowan waited for this moment, this burial. “My grandparents could never do that,” tells Paul Stouffer who made several trips to Normandy to find the body of his uncle, “There, the doubt is removed, he is no longer missing in action, he died in action.” So after years of research and dealings with the authorities, to bury him in Normandy rather than in the United States, it was obvious for his niece, Kathryn Adams: “He was among the French and it was his home for so many years before we found him that we felt he should stay here. I think there was never any doubt in our minds that his place was here.”
The burial was due to take place in 2020, but the two years of the Covid pandemic delayed things. So now that travel is possible, the ceremony takes place this Saturday morning and for the occasion, they are nearly a hundred, family and friends, to have made the trip from the United States and elsewhere in the world.
– Sarah Saltiel-Ragot
Everyone grew up with this account of William McGowan’s death and sacrifice. Among them, Ethan, 21 years old. “My uncle Paul has been here several times, to help find the body and get information about the crash,” says the young man, “Ever since I was little, he’s been talking about it with me, he’s been telling me ‘you have to come, you have to come to France with me!'” Ethan can’t get over being “finally” here in Normandybut for him it was essential: “History can repeat itself and we have to protect our values and know what these people have sacrificed here. On a lot of these graves these people are my age and to think how scary that must have been, it’s unbelievable. “ The young student even learned a few notions of French after a semester at the University of Aix-en-Provence, because he “knew that one day he would come to Normandy, for this funeral.”