A Special Trip To Normandy

Our group of 13 including five Aggies was in Normandy, France, in July to see the war sights and celebrate the 70th anniversary of D-Day, but there was another special reason for this particular trip. A good friend, Conrad John Netting IV '69, was born several weeks after his dad, Conrad John Netting III ‘40, was killed on June 10, 1944, supporting post D-Day operations.  Lt. Netting was so sure his baby would be a boy, he named his P-51 Mustang fighter plane Con-Jon IV.  

Records indicated Lt. Netting was shot down.  Lt. Netting had attended A&M but did not graduate.  We think he would have been class of 1940. [Note from The Association: That is correct.]

Never knowing his dad, Conrad IV had visited his father’s grave at Brittany American Cemetery in St. James, France, when younger with his mom, but did not know much more about his dad.

When his mom died, and he was cleaning out her house, he found his father’s WWII footlocker along with his uniform, medals, flight log, and almost 1700 love letters between his parents. They apparently had written almost daily for three years while he was in the service. The flight log listed his last flight as being lost over France and included the name of his wingman on the date of his death.

Through the letters, flight log, and the fellow pilot who had survived, Conrad IV was able to piece together a pretty good picture of his dad.

The very unexpected happened about 12 years ago - Conrad received a letter from France looking for Conrad John Netting IV, “the son of a brave fighter pilot lost over France just after D-Day.”  After thinking this was a joke of some kind, he found that the family who wrote to him actually saw his dad’s plane crash - a father and, at the time, 11-year-old son, witnessed the crash. The American plane had spotted a German convoy coming up the road toward their village, strafed the convoy, destroyed the fuel trucks and then crashed. The father and young son quickly recovered the body, built a coffin and buried him all before the Germans in the area could get reorganized. Later, as the Allies arrived, the family turned the body over to them. This French family had only his dad's first name and his unborn son’s name from the painted name on the plane. Fifty-eight years later the French family began to search for Lt. Netting’s son. 

It was revealed that since the time of the crash the village of Saint Michel des Andaines had honored Lt. Netting as a town son and hero for destroying the German’s convoy. Villagers have gone annually to his final resting place, Brittany American Cemetery, to place flowers on his grave. All this was happening over the decades with no knowledge on Conrad IV’s part.

The young boy in the village, now an 81-year-old gentleman, Michel Grandin, met with us and showed us around. He had built a memorial and flagpole flying the American flag at Lt. Netting’s original, temporary burial spot.  Wanting Conrad IV to attend the memorial dedication, Mr. Grandin began his search for him 12 years ago. 

A single American flag flying near a small cemetery is quite an amazing sight near the D-Day beaches of France.

Several years ago, Conrad IV wrote a book telling the story of getting to know his father through all these events: Delayed Legacy (www.delayedlegacy.com). The purpose of our trip was to meet Mr. Grandin and honor the grave of Lt. Conrad John Netting III.

The photos show the memorial to Lt. Conrad Netting III '40, Conrad Netting IV and Mr. Michel Grandin at Saint Michel des Andaines, Normandy, France, on July 4, 2014.