(NEXSTAR)— Donna Allen only met her father once when she was a baby. It wasn’t until Allen was 48 years old that she officially learned that her father, Pvt. Roy U. Talhelm, was an American hero.
“I had never seen a picture. What I’m told is that my grandmother had destroyed letters that he had written to my mom, and so I really didn’t have any knowledge at all,” Allen said.
Pvt. Talhelm was a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division. He enlisted in the U.S. Army when he was 16 and was killed just a few days after D-Day. Talhelm lied about his age in order to be able to fight for his country. He is the youngest enlisted soldier to be buried at the Normandy American Cemetery.
Before he crossed the Atlantic and jumped the beaches of Normandy, he had one opportunity to meet his daughter. Allen was just a few months old when her father died.
“I was so frustrated. I said, ‘Why won’t you talk about him? Is he in prison?'” said Allen. “I did ask them that. And my stepfather said, ‘Your father was a real hero and your mother needs to talk to you about him.’ Well, she never did. Not much. No, she just didn’t. But at least I knew he wasn’t in prison. And I knew he was a real hero.”
Allen said her mother didn’t talk about her father, so she grew up not knowing much about him.
Finally, when she was 48, that shroud of secrecy lifted thanks to the help of one of her sons.
“So he came back the next day with the article that said, when my dad was wounded,” said Allen. “And then he kept going on in the microfilm… He found the article when my dad had died, and he brought me those articles. I was off and running.”
It was then she learned the details of her father’s service to the United States.
Through her research, Allen collected documents, health records, contact information and years of notes that she now keeps tucked away in her basement in Pennsylvania. She was even able to track down a photo of her dad.
Allen eventually connected with a group called the American World War II Orphans Network. She was able to talk to men and women just like her.
“It was stunning. I mean, it was like, you know, the proverbial needle in the haystack. That was, that was my needle in the haystack,” Allen said.
As the needles continued to multiply, Allen learned that her father had been buried three different times: first, in a farmer’s field; next, near a chateau that had been converted into a field hospital; and finally, in the Normandy American Cemetery.
Eventually, Allen made the journey to the American Cemetery in Normandy in 1996 where her father is buried. A moment she can barely put into words. “He only saw me once, and I was a baby, and it took all those years for me to go there and reconnect in that way,” said Allen. “Of course, it wasn’t something that you can reach out and touch, but your soul does. Your soul does that.”
Her first steps inside the cemetery were surreal. “It’s like hallowed ground, and you become part of that hallowed ground,” said Allen.
It was the closest she had been to her father since she was a baby. A moment forever ingrained in her memory. A photo captured that sacred reunion with first words spoken from daughter to father.
“I had a few things to say, like, ‘Hi, daddy, I’m here for the first time,'” said Allen.
Allen has returned to the Normandy American Cemetery three times since that first trip, each with its own unique and special memories. But no matter the circumstance or the pomp surrounding anniversary years the impact remains the same.
“This is just staggering, incredibly staggering that these people are buried here, and they gave their lives for us,” said Allen. “And people need to be appreciative.”
Donna continues to honor her father’s legacy.
She had her congressman write to obtain her father’s medals, including the Purple Heart and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
And as a retired teacher, Allen is also passionate about educating future generations. Her personal way of honoring her father’s immeasurable sacrifice.
“They need to know that some people didn’t get to live a life so they could, and they need to respect that and carry it through.”
Pvt. Talhelm was 17 years old when he died.