One of the best memories of doing the Statue of Liberty renovation project has been the opportunity to hear so many stories about people whose lives inspired the bricks placed around the base of the statue.

The first story that came to my attention is that of my friend, Linda Chauvin, who has lived on Beach Drive for six years.

Linda volunteered time to our fundraising effort, handing out brochures one long afternoon at the statue. She wanted a brick to honor her father, 2nd Lt. Gene Shauvin (different spelling; same family), a World War II Army Air Corps pilot, missing in action since September 1944.

She was only three years old when his plane was shot down in the countryside of Nazi occupied Belgium, near the Dutch border, and has only dim memories of him; yet, she never forgot him.

Through several years of research, Linda learned her father was a member of the elite volunteer Pathfinder group, and flew one of the six DC-3 troop carrier planes that led one of the largest airborne invasions of the war. In advance of a massive aerial armada, their mission was to drop small contingents of specially trained paratroopers behind enemy lines in Holland, thus setting up drop zones for hundreds of plane loads of paratroopers who would soon descend from the skies.

This vast allied airborne invasion, Operation Market-Garden, was immortalized in Cornelius Ryan’s book and film, “A Bridge Too Far.” Their goal was to free the Lowlands of Hitler’s grip and break the German defenses along the Rhine River.

Of the six Pathfinder planes who left their base in England, Shauvin’s plane was the only one that did not return. During the mission, the plane was hit in the left fuel tank, causing an explosion after six of the paratroopers had jumped to safety.

The bodies of the co-pilot, flight engineer, crew chief and remaining paratroopers were found outside the plane, which crashed into a boggy pasture. Notes from a Red Cross journal mentioned seeing a badly charred body in the left seat of the cockpit. 2nd Lt. Shauvin was the only body not positively identified at the time, though the Army Air Corps acknowledged his death a short time later.

Forward to the present: In September 2001, Linda, her mother and other family members visited the town of Retie, Belgium, where they were honored guests at the dedication of a memorial erected by townspeople, grateful to these soldiers who gave their lives in the liberation of their country, including Lt. Shauvin.

Linda’s mother was presented with the U.S. flag – 57 years late - that is customarily given to a fallen soldier’s next of kin.

The following year Linda presented her case to the Joint MIA/POW Task Force at Hickam A.F.B. in Hawaii, which is dedicated to the repatriation of remains of missing U.S. servicemen from fields of battle of all wars. Of the 68,000 people still missing from W.W. II, only two cases per year are selected for search and recovery. This special group chose this MIA case and except for Lt. Shauvin, all passengers aboard his plane had been accounted for.

A team of 13 specialists from every branch of the service conducted a thorough excavation of the crash site, but could not find Lt. Shauvin’s dog tags or remains. Linda was disappointed when the search was halted, but she had a dream later that night in which her father said to her, “I am not here any longer.”

Linda has finally found peace in knowing how her father died, and that he was indeed a hero.