Robert Leety's father had written his son about 340 letters while he was overseas. Some of those came back marked "Deceased."
Sally Leety Hunter, Robert's sister, recalled the day she learned about his death when she was 11 years old. "I had the only temper tantrum in my life that day," she said. Not long before his death, he had bought Sally a doll in France. She brought the doll to the cemetery for Saturday's service.
Her family hung a Gold Star flag (meaning they had lost a son in service) on the door after they got the news.
Though Leety's body is buried in France, his family is starting to get some closure. In 2016, one of Robert Leety's nephews contacted a French man named Pierre Lindauer, who owned the property where the plane crashed.
Niece Sally Leety Stevens and her husband traveled to the Lorrain American Cemetery in 2017 to see her uncle's grave site. While there, they met Mr. Lindauer, who had recovered Robert's flight wings from the crash site during the war. he returned them to Leety's family, along with a piece of the plane Leety had been flying.
Quite a Ceremony. --GreGen
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