Anderson man preserves cousin's D-Day memories

ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) - It was 73 years ago when Ray Turner's cousin flew a glider with 32 men into Normandy.

"When he came back home, of course, he was a lot different," the Anderson man said. "But I didn't pay that much attention back then."

When Turner was just a young kid, his cousin Merrill "Gene" Eugene Janney Jr. was across the world, aiding in the Normandy landings - an operation that began the liberation of Nazi-controlled areas of Europe.

Technically third cousins, Turner and Janney were closer than most distant relatives, even with a 13-year age difference.

Whether it was because of the age gap or because of the painful recollections, Janney didn't talk much about D-Day. But Turner, 84, has hold of fragments of his cousin's memories, thanks to writings preserved for genealogy purposes.

In 1955, Janney wrote a synopsis of his life to that point, which included graduating from Anderson High School, being a paperboy for The Anderson Herald, working at Guide Lamp, marriage, children and enlisting in the Army Air Corps at the age of 21 in 1941.

In that fateful first week of June 1944, Janney nearly lost his life on D-Day when instead of landing the glider gracefully, he crashed the aircraft at 80 mph into a group of trees.

Janney was thrown about 20 feet to the back of the glider and knocked unconscious before he was taken to a beach hospital.

"That's the last anyone knew of me until my dog tags, with me attached, appeared at a station hospital back in Western England," Janney wrote in 1955. "For all of this, I'm taking the other pilot's word. I was completely knocked out as far as knowing or remembering anything.

"I do not even remember the landing and only part of the trip across the channel. That's just the way amnesia works."

According to the writings, Janney sustained a broken leg, broken right hand, fractured vertebra, fractured skull, a concussion, three fractured toes, a fractured left shoulder socket and his neck was out of place.

"I spent the next five months thanking my lucky stars that I was still alive," he wrote.

After he recovered, Janney continued serving his country overseas. He eventually went back to work at Guide Lamp before attending Purdue University, then moving to Fort Wayne to work at General Electric.

He died in 1963 at the age of 43 following an illness.

Turner said few family members remain in Madison County, but relatives are familiar with Janney's contributions to D-Day, even if the rest of the world isn't.

"There's a lot of information there," Turner said. "In fact there's an awful lot of pictures of gliders and some of the horrific stories that are posted, but I've never found anything about him."

___

Source: The (Anderson) Herald Bulletin, http://bit.ly/2s0jdYV

___

Information from: The Herald Bulletin, http://www.theheraldbulletin.com