OSAmag81

T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 1
OLD STATIONER MEETS PRESIDENT OBAMA
Dear Geraint
14th May 2015
davidsheath@hotmail.co.uk
In June last year I travelled to Normandy
to take part in the D Day Celebrations.
My father, Robert, was a paratrooper in the
US Airborne Division (The Screaming
Eagles 101st) and had been killed on
D-Day in 1944 in the first wave of the
invasion. His plane had crashed at a small
village called Magneville, south of
Cherbourg. All 18 paratroopers and 4 crew
had perished. There is a fitting memorial
just outside the village (see picture) to
commemorate the event. Every year in
June the Mayor and Villagers perform a
small ceremony around the Memorial and
I was invited to attend. It was a very
emotional moment, especially when I met
one of the villagers, Alfred (picture
enclosed), who was 17 at the time of the
crash, and had rushed to the scene and
removed all the bodies (badly burned),
covering them with their parachutes before
taking them by trailer to the local
churchyard for burial. My father was
reburied after the War at the American
War Cemetery (Colleville-sur-Mer)
overlooking Omaha Beach. I was privileged
to be invited, as next of kin, to the June 6th
event at the American War Cemetery
which was hosted by Presidents Hollande
and Obama. It was indeed a great honour
on the occasion for me to meet and shake
hands with the American President. Sadly
I have no 'selfie' of the moment!
I had made the same trip to my father's
grave in 2013 when I was accompanied by
former classmates and good friends
PETER BONNER and MARTIN
BURR and their wives. It was then that
we discovered the crash site at Magneville
and met the Mayor whose grandparents
too had been present on that fateful
morning, He, very kindly presented me
with a small book that had been written
(in French) about the crash on June 6th
and the events preceding it (picture
enclosed). Thanks to 'Beaky' Davis, I was
able to read most of it!
Yours sincerely
David Sheath 1953-1960
OLD STATIONER
UNVEILS NEW SPORTS
HALL
Dear Geraint
davidsheath@hotmail.co.uk
14th May 2015
I was wondering if any Old Stationer has
had a building named after him? Last
December I was honoured to be asked
back to the School, St. Marks Catholic
School, Hounslow, where I had been
Headteacher for 15 years, to open the new
£2 million Sports Hall that had been built
at the rear of the School, on the old school
'MAGNEVILLE Ce Jour La...' 6 Juin 1944
Philippe R. NEKRASSOFF Eric BRISSARD]
(bottom left) DAVID SHEATH and the MAYOR
(below right) David Sheath in France
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