Rick McCrabb: Hamilton pilot was 'just doing his job' while flying paratroopers on D-Day
Apr. 18—It wasn't until 1994, on the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, that Lt. Donald H. Steffen opened up about his World War II experiences.
"Like a lot of guys back then, he said he was just doing his job," said Kurt Schlicht, Steffen's son-in-law. "There was a rush of patriotism during the war. Then after the war, he just wanted to get on with his life."
Schlicht and his wife, Donna, 73, the oldest of Steffen's four children, will drive from their Indiana home to Butler County Regional Airport this weekend to see a restored C-47 that led the air attack on D-Day. "That's All, Brother," a C-47 piloted by Lt. Col. John Donalson, is scheduled to visit the airport through today and offer ticketed tours and rides.
The Steffen family knows about the C-47 planes and their connection to D-Day.
Steffen, a 1942 Hamilton High School graduate, was the pilot of a C-47 that flew paratroopers to Normandy the night of the landing. He successfully carried a "stick" of about 15 soldiers from the Third Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division to their Drop Zone D behind Omaha Beach.
The 100 pilots flew in formation through the heavy fog without radio communication on June 6, 1944. The pilots could barely see their wing tips due to the weather, Schlicht said.
"It was like 'follow the leader,'" he said.
On D-Day, some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France's Normandy region.
Steffen, 19 at the time, then returned to England where his plane was loaded with supplies that he delivered to those on the beaches while picking up injured soldiers.
Later, after Steffen gained seniority, he named his C-47 "Helen of Hamilton" after Helen Leyrer, his high school sweetheart he later married. He also flew combat missions for operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge.
While flying during operation Market Garden, his best friend's plane was shot down, and the friend was killed.
After high school, Steffen attended Ohio State University for one year before enlisting in the Army Air Corps. He trained as a pilot in Texas, flew his C-47 to England and joined the 98th Squadron of the 440th Troop Carrier Group, stationed in southwest England.
He was discharged in 1946, married Helen, earned his industrial engineer degree from OSU, and started his career at Eli Lilly Corp. in Indianapolis where he helped develop production facilities for the polio vaccine.
The Steffens have four children: Donna, Tom, 71, Linda, 68, and Sandy, 59. Donald Steffen died in 2013 and his wife died in 2016. He was 89 and she was 92. They're buried in Greenfield, Ind.
They honeymooned in a cabin near Cincinnati. He drove a used automobile and after opening the car door for his bride, he closed it and it fell off.
"It's safe to say he was embarrassed," Schlicht said of his father-in-law.
Thankfully, he had better luck with his plane.
