D-Day Research an Emotional Journey-- Part 1: Eugen Mlot

From the Nov. 19, 2015, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by Meg Jones.

"Before the B-24 bomber nicknamed Victory Belle crashed into Nazi-occupied France shortly after the D-Day invasion, several parachutes were seen as frantic crew members tumbled to safety from the flaming aircraft.

"Nose gunner Eugene Mlot was not among the lucky.  His remains stayed inside the plane until German troops removed the Milwaukee man's dog tags and buried him in a nearby cemetery.  A year later, Mlot was reinterred in the bucolic American cemetery overlooking the sea where thousands of men lost their lives on Omaha Beach."

There was probably no memorial service for him.  He was survived by his mother in Milwaukee who spoke only Polish and an older sister who worked as a hairdresser.

More than seven decades later, a 17-year-old girl walked up to his simple white marker with his name, military unit and date of death.  That girl was Julia Brunson.  How she ended up in Normandy, France, last summer to eulogize a hero whose death wasn't even mentioned in his hometown newspaper began when her history teacher at Ronald Reagan High School, Maggie Holtgrieve, applied to a unique program.

--GreGen