Crowd pays respects to DeGlopper

Grand Island Dispatch, June 12, 2009

Charles N. DeGlopper was remembered at a ceremony Tuesday in Maple Grove
Cemetery on the 65th anniversary of his death. (photo by Larry Austin)

On the 65th anniversary of his death, Grand Island’s Pfc. Charles N. DeGlopper was remembered “for the supreme sacrifice he gave to his country in World War II.”

A ceremony was held at 11 a.m. on June 9 at DeGlopper’s grave in the Maple Grove Cemetery on Stony Point Road. A small gathering of people paid their respects to the Congressional Medal of Honor winner who died in France during the invasion of Normandy.

“I’m happy to see these people turn out and pay their respects to Charlie,” said Joe Synakowski, chaplain of the Charles N. DeGlopper VFW Post. “This should be done every year to commemorate and teach our youngsters what happened years ago. It’s not forgotten, it’s in history.”

Anita DeGlopper, wife of Charles DeGlopper’s nephew Ray DeGlopper, read a statement that noted Charles DeGlopper’s life on Grand Island and acts of valor that earned him a posthumous awarding of the Congressional Medal of Honor (June 5, 2009, Island Dispatch).

Charles DeGlopper served in Company C, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. Three days after the invasion, Anita told the crowd, on June 9, 1944, Charlie and his comrades were attempting to secure a bridgehead across the swollen Merderet River. Ambushed and trapped by gunfire in a shallow roadside ditch, the private walked into the road with his Browning automatic rifle and began firing while in full view of the enemy. Though wounded, he continued to fire, allowing his comrades time to retreat. They later secured a vital bridgehead, but not before DeGlopper lost his life to enemy fire.

“By commemorating his life with this service today, we citizens must continue to perpetuate the sacrifice of Charlie, a young man who died for his country, in helping to secure freedom for others, and remind us all of the sacrifice of all soldiers who volunteer and continue to secure freedom around the world,” Anita DeGlopper read.

Similar memorial services in France echo the praises for DeGlopper at home each year as the anniversary of the Normandy invasion nears. Synakowski noted that a marker in France commemorating DeGlopper’s act stands near the exact place where DeGlopper fell. He said the people of France treat the American veterans like royalty when they return to places such as Normandy, and “I wish that the schools would give a little more history to the children so they would know what their fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers did during World War II to save this whole planet.”