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| Airman Cecil Lanning and Band of Brother's Lewis Nixon were both born 100 years ago today. Cecil and his brother Charles both lost their lives during WW2. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/37392522/cecil-s.-lanning https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56646747/charles-m-lanning https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19055819/lewis-nixon |
Cecil S. Lanning never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on September 30, 1918 in Indiana. His parents James and Anna were also both born in Indiana. His father worked as a farm manager, farmer, and metal worker through his life. Cecil had two older brothers and two younger brothers. Cecil completed four years of high school. He married Helen Jean Godfrey on April 18, 1942.
He was drafted into the army on October 14, 1942. He became a sergeant and ground crewman in the 34th Transport Squadron, 315th Air Transport Group which was equipped with C-47 Skytrains. The 315th ATG arrived in England in December 1942. Sgt. Lanning likely joined his unit at a later time.
Meanwhile, his younger brother Charles joined the navy and served on the freight carrier USS Miantonomah. Miantonomah was sunk by a mine near Le Havre on September 25, 1944. Charles was one of 58 men lost. His remains were not recovered.
Cecil was mortally injured when the air transport he was in crashed in Cambriac, France on November 1, 1944. He died the same day.
His grave is at East Hill Cemetery in Rushville, Indiana. If anyone takes a photo of this and sends it to me, I would love to include it in this profile.
LEWIS NIXON
Lewis Nixon was born on the same day as Cecil Lanning, in New York City. Raised in a well-to-do family he spent time in youth boating around New York City and traveling in Europe. He attended Yale University for two years.
After being drafted into the army, Lewis was sent to Army Officer Candidate School. He volunteered for the Airborne and was assigned to Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Division which later became part of the 101st Airborne Division. He became a captain and the S2 intelligence officer for the 2nd Battalion. His participation and experiences, from D-Day to Operation Market Garden to the Battle of the Bulge and beyond, are shared in Stephen Ambrose's well known book, Band of Brothers and the TV miniseries of the same name.
After the war, Lewis worked at his family's New Jersey nitrate plan. He died in 1995. His good friend and comrade from Company E, Dick Winters, gave his eulogy.
Last year on this date I profiled Glenn Midgarden, Americal Division and the greatest drummer in history. You can read about Glenn here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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