During WW2 my grandparents in Amarillo, Texas, opened their home to servicemembers in training in their area. Their favorite visitor was a young man from West Virginia, 2Lt. Charles F. Nixdorf, who was a C-47 pilot. "Chuck" eventually ended up in England in the 72nd Troop Carrier Squadron, 434 Troop Carrier Group in support of the 101st Airborne. In August 1944 Chuck was in London and purchased an Irish linen tablecloth for Grandmother which he had mailed to their home. They received the table cloth on Oct. 8, 1944.
Chuck flew the night drop into Normandy and perhaps other missions during the D-Day time frame, followed by cargo flights into grass strips in France. On the following Sept. 17 he flew 101st into Eindhoven during the ill fated "Operation Market Garden". During the drop his aircraft, perhaps one of the first 45 C-47s into the area, was hit by ground fire during the drop and an engine was on fire. After the paratroops had gotten out his crew members jumped, but all were killed when the chutes failed to open at too low an altitude. Chuck died in the aircraft. His remains were buried in Margraten-Aschen cemetery in Holland and transferred to Arlington National Cemetery in December 1948.
I have the "Unused" tablecloth in the original box and the pilots wings he gave to my grandparents when he left Amarillo. None of the family ever learned of this resting place; I found it in 2009 and have visited "Chuck" several times. The location is: Section 12, grave # 8376. I know of this story because as a young boy I observed my grandmother standing on a step stool in the closet with her hand on the tablecloth box, quietly crying; her son was gone, buried in some unknown location. I know, but she never knew!