A Heirloom's Homecoming

Gander aviation historian returns a corporal's wallet 75 years after his fatal crash.

By Connie Boland

A brown leather wallet creased and battered, is back with the family of Cpl. Nicholas Brando, an American serviceman who died in a plane crash 75 years ago.

“It was the right thing to do,” aviation historian Darrell Hillier says during a telephone interview from his home in Mount Pearl, NL. “The most appropriate place for the wallet, and its contents, is with the family.”

On the night of February 14, 1945, a B-24 Liberator bomber approached the former military base at Gander, NL. It was a messy night, the sky heavy with snow. The plane, which had been bound for the United Kingdom, crashed in a remote area of Central Newfoundland. None of the 10 American airmen onboard survived.

“My understanding is the wallet changed hands over the years, but was initially found by a trapper shortly after the accident, which makes sense considering the condition it was in,” Darrell explains. “The papers inside were very well preserved. It’s not something that got wet, or damaged, or deteriorated over time.”

The deceased soldiers were young, many recently out of flight training school. They left behind mothers, fathers, spouses, families, fiancées and girlfriends. Cpl. Brando, the aircraft’s radio operator and gunner, was a 22-year-old native of New York City’s Brooklyn borough. He was married just six months when he left his wife behind and departed for overseas.

Cpl. Brando’s wallet offers a glimpse of his personal life before the crash. He carried a birth certificate, a document certifying completion of a radio operator and mechanic course, an American Red Cross card and a record of immunization. His personal documents included a driver’s permit, a jagged scrap of paper with an address scrawled across it and a religious document. Darrell recently returned everything to Brando’s family in the United States.

Darrell was a teenager when he became fascinated by WWII crash sites, specifically the more than 20 estimated to be in the Gander area. His master’s thesis examines the B- 24 Liberator site, and the experiences of 10 American families attempting to understand and navigate their loss. Darrell received the wallet from a friend and fellow aviation enthusiast. “Documents in the wallet verified it belonged to Cpl. Nicholas Brando,” Darrell says. “I couldn’t believe it. I was floored.”

Back Row (L-R): Cpl John E. Baker; Pte Mark G. Lantz; Pte Harry Karpick Front Row (L-R): Cpl Charles J. Parsons, Jr.; Cpl Nicholas Brando; Cpl John W. Tarpey

He continues, “It was important to me to find this family. When I was writing my thesis, I was fortunate to track down members of other families who were quite helpful, but I didn’t have any luck finding anyone from the Brando family. When I got the wallet, I restarted my efforts to find them, but I still didn’t have any luck.”

This past October, James Matarese, Cpl. Brando’s great-nephew, contacted Darrell via Facebook after a family member found an online article highlighting Darrell’s thesis. The family knew Cpl. Brando had died during the Second World War; however, the specifics were lost with the passing of descendants with direct knowledge of the tragedy. James was surprised to learn the wallet had survived the crash and remained intact. Darrell offered to send copies of his research documents and photos to James. He said he could either donate the wallet to a local museum or return it to the family.

“I read the thesis to my mother, and it was emotional discovering the pain and frustration that her grandmother, father and other uncle must have felt,” James says. “I was shocked to learn of the wallet and could not wait to share the news. I think it was important for everyone that we fulfill the wishes of his mother, Mary Brando, and see it returned to the family.

“It truly is an amazing story,” he adds. “In a short period of time we went from knowing very little about his disappearance to holding the wallet he was carrying with him, as well as being able to read a cache of documents and personal letters surrounding his disappearance.”

In his thesis, Darrell points out the return of personal items was very important to families of missing airmen. “I think that’s because it has a direct connection to their loved ones,” he says. “The US War Department knew that and would go to great lengths to recover and return personal belongings. They recovered as much as they could at the time, but it was winter when the aircraft was found, and it was covered in snow. They did go back in the spring and recover personal belongings from another crew member.”

Darrell shipped the wallet via courier to the US. “It was well wrapped up,” he chuckles. “My only concern was that it got there quickly and safely. The worst thing that could happen was it disappear in transit, but it all worked out.”

James contacted the Cradle of Aviation Museum at Mitchel Field in Long Island, New York, where the crew had boarded the doomed flight. They expressed interest in exhibiting the artifacts in the future.

“Things come full circle,” Darrell says. “You never know what’s out there and what people keep. It was amazing to know the wallet still existed because I had written about this individual, and this crew, and had been to the crash site.

“It was pretty surreal to connect with the family, and it’s certainly rewarding to know the wallet and its contents are back where they belong. It just took a while – 75 years plus a couple of days in the mail.”

Newfoundland and Labrador’s Provincial Archaeology Office, the regulatory agency for all archaeology conducted within the province, established a buffer zone to maintain the integrity of the crash site.

Darrell’s thesis, Stars, Stripes, and Sacrifice: A Wartime Familial Experience of Hope, Loss, and Grief, and the Journey Home of an American Bomber, is posted on the Memorial University Libraries website: Research.library.mun.ca (search “Darrell Hillier”).

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