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Re: There's A Story Behond Every Name

To: ALL

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: August 10, 2003

"Family finds closure in truth
by SCOTT EARP

Young Army pathfinder

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce Heard Amid the guns below.

We are the dead, short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.”

These words, from John McCrae’s poem, “In Flanders Fields,” were read during a ceremony to honor the brave young men of airship 981 who gave their lives defending the honor and glory of their country. The ceremony, which took place Sept. 8, 2001, came just nine days shy of the 57th anniversary of their deaths. It marked the culmination of a long journey to find answers and the solace that comes with finally knowing the truth for several families, one of which resides in Jacksonville.

Roy L. Stephens, like most men of his generation, enthusiastically joined the Army after graduating from Jacksonville High School in 1936. Leaving his rural roots behind to seek his fame under the mantle of a soldier in the United States military, Stephens, nor his family, had no inkling of the mystery that would follow his travails; a mystery that would take almost a lifetime after he perished before answers were given and peace afforded the family that held him dear.

“Roy and I were always real close,” explained his sister Ruth Ellis, seated at the dinner table of her Jacksonville home recalling the fond memories of her brother. “He was just a sweet, sweet person.”

Ellis remembered the day her brother signed up to fulfill his military obligation. Filled with pride and apprehension about her brother’s future, Ellis never dreamed that her brother would perish in battle nor that it would take 65 years before she would finally be able to put closure on the events that lead to his demise. Fate, however, tested the resolve of a sister’s love and pushed Ellis to the limits of her very being before serving the peace that can only be found in the truth.

“Roy was stationed all over the world,” recalled Ellis. “It was almost like he was blessed, because he seemed to always avoid danger no matter where he was. He was stationed in Hawaii, once, but came back just before Pearl Harbor.”

Stephens had his first taste of combat on June 6, 1942, when he signed on as a pathfinder in England. Involved in Operation Overlord, he was a member of the crew who entered the battle zone ahead of his brothers in arms, disarming mines and preparing the ground for the arrival of troops.

“He never complained about how dangerous his missions were,” added Ellis. “He just served his country in any way he could and did the job they asked him to do.

“We were all very proud of the things he did.”

As a pathfinder, Stephens was part of an elite unit of men in the 101st Airborne Division known as the Screaming Eagles. To those who knew him, Stephens seemed to epitomize the characteristics of an American Eagle about which the Army’s General Order Number Five insists “will crush its enemies by falling upon them like a thunderbolt from the skies.”

As a paratrooper, Stephens dropped out of airships wreaking havoc on the unsuspecting enemy below. By all accounts, he was very good at what he did. Still, fate has a way of turning the tables, and did just that with Stephens and his crewmates.

“On Sept. 17, 1944,” noted Ellis, “I got a letter from Roy that he wrote on Sept. 15. He told me he was going to take part in Operation Market Garden, which was supposed to have been the biggest airborne operation in history.”

As part of his mission on that fateful day, Stephens was scheduled to drop into Belgium to mark the jump zones for the assault forces that followed. It was a jump he had made a hundred times before without mishap, but on that day, luck was not at his side.

Normally, pathfinders were able to strike before the enemy ever had the opportunity to react. On this occasion, however, they were somehow tipped off to the impending campaign and were waiting on Stephens and his crewmates to arrive. As Stephens’ plane crossed over Belgium and the men took their positions in preparation of a jump, a surface-to-air missile came out of nowhere, ripping through the hull of the aircraft. Stephens and his team were literally blown out of the air. Four men who were standing closest to the door were blown from the plane, three were captured and one managed a daring escape with the help of a Belgium family. The others, however, were not so lucky.

Stephens, who was the last in line on this particular jump was blown further back into the plane. He and the pilot were the only two to actually go down with the ship; the others were tossed from the craft during the descent. Following the horrific disaster, the pilot was found still in the cockpit of the airplane, burned beyond recognition. The majority of the pathfinder crew, though dead, were accounted for. Stephens, however, was not so lucky. His body was tossed into a haystack on a neighboring farm.

“German soldiers rushed in and made the Belgium farmers bury the men at that location,” explained Ellis. “Roy was never identified before he was buried.”

The military forwarded a letter to Ellis and her family alerting them to the fact that Roy was listed as missing in action.

“For six years,” explained Ellis, fighting back tears at the memory of that period,” all we knew was that he was missing. We did not know what happened or where he was when he went missing.

“I tried everything I could to find out what happened.”

Finally, in 1950 the military acknowledge that Stephens’ body had been recovered.

“They told us he was buried with honors in a Belgium cemetery,” added Ellis. “Roy had always told my mom that if something happened to him while he was serving overseas he just wanted us to leave his body there, so we did.”

The family, still in the dark about the circumstances surrounding his death, held a small graveside service at their parents plot in Jacksonville Cemetery.

“We were at peace with the fact that he was buried in a beautiful place,” explained Ellis, “but I wanted to know what happened. I needed to find out to be able to finally deal with everything; we all did.”

Over the next 50 years of her life, Ellis searched. She saw one family member after another pass away during this trek to find the truth, but she never strayed from her goal.

As it had her brother throughout most of his life, fate was smiling down upon her. Despite the fact that none of her siblings survived to see the day when her persistence would pay off, a series of fateful events combined to make the impossible possible.

“The pilot, whose body was buried in the same grave as Roy’s since they could not be recognized,” explained Ellis, “had a 3-year-old daughter at the time he passed away. Like me, his daughter refused to just accept the limited information the Army provided.”

The pilot’s daughter placed a message on the Internet asking for information about the crew of that doomed flight. It just so happened that Dave Berry, a historian from Ohio, came across the message while researching the details of that particular flight.

After making contact with the pilot’s daughter, Berry was re-energized in his quest to contact family of each person on that flight. Only three remained uncontacted to this point, Stephens’ family being one of them.

Barry telephoned the Anniston Public Library seeking any assistance they could provide. While the librarian had no idea of who Stephens was, Ellis had a cousin who just happened to be in the library that day and overheard the conversation. She spoke with Barry and put him in touch with Ellis.

“I was thrilled to speak with him and finally find out the whole truth,” explained Ellis, who has since spoken with both the pilot’s daughter and one of the men who escaped the aircraft. “Everyone says that it was meant for me to be the one who finally uncovers the truth, since I have been looking so hard for so long.”

The families of the victims were scheduled to converge on the tiny Belgium hamlet in September 2001 to hold a memorial ceremony in honor of the men buried there. Unfortunately terrorists attacked the United States making the thought of international travel less than appealing. Bowed but not broken in her quest for closure, Ellis insists she will go to her brother’s graveside at some point in time.

“I have spoken with people from over there,” concluded Ellis, “and I will go one day. Meanwhile, they send me photographs and programs to any kinds of services held. That is the next best thing.

“At least I know.”

Ellis encourages fellow citizens to take time from their busy days and, every now and again, acknowledge the sacrifices that men and women like her brother Roy made so that the United States and her people remain free. She wonders how many others reading this article would be as willing to look death in the face and press on to insure freedoms and liberties for people we don’t even know. That is why she supports the Jacksonville War Memorial.

“This is about all of the veterans who gave their life for this country,” stated Ellis. “There is a story behind every name on the list; you just have to care enough to find out what it is.”

Scott Earp is a staff writer for The Jacksonville News.
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