D-Day pilot from Valley honored at Forgotten Heroes event

Staff report

BOARDMAN

Suzanne Zadell had to learn about her father through stories her mother told of him, and through letters he’d written.

Her father, Raymond Eckert, was killed during the D-Day invasion of Omaha Beach in France on June 6, 1944. A sergeant with the 82nd Airborne Medical Division, Eckert was flying a glider and was supposed to land behind enemy lines to support the troops who were landing on the beach below, but his aircraft veered off-course and crashed. His back was broken upon impact, and he was later killed.

Zadell was just 6 months old at the time.

“All my information about him came from my mom,” Zadell said. “She told me all about him, and she gave me letters he’d written her from the war.”

She shared some of those stories Sunday during the 19th annual Forgotten Heroes program at Forest Lawn Cemetery on Market Street. Zadell was one of the featured speakers. A Boardman native, Zadell now lives in Vermilion, Ohio, with her husband, Frank.

Eckert was originally buried in a town called Blosville, France, not far from the spot where he was killed. Some 6,000 American soldiers were buried there between 1944 and 1948. In 1948, most of the soldiers’ remains were returned to the United States, including Eckert, who is now buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery on Market Street.

Steffon Jones, one of the program coordinators, said Forgotten Heroes was started by local Civil War re-enactment groups who wanted to honor the memories of Civil War veterans who are buried in the area.

“God blessed the program we started, and it just kept growing,” he said.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.