Utah pilot who died near Normandy during World War II commemorated in France

SALT LAKE CITY – D-Day was only the beginning of the liberation of Europe from the Nazis.

As the world remembers the 80th anniversary of the invasion, a Utah family has just returned from the town where their loved one died while fighting to liberate France. They were the guests of honor as a small French village paid tribute to U.S. Air Force pilot Paul Chaufty, whose plane crashed the day their town was liberated from Germany Nazi.

Nicole Saunders and her husband David never met her great-uncle, Chaufty. They knew he had fought in World War II and died near Normandy. But French family members who saw his plane crash nearly 80 years ago have created a foundation in his honor.

The Saunders said they will never forget their experience in France and will cherish the moments in history that should never be forgotten.

“It was just touching to see,” said Nicole Saunders, as she and her husband looked through their treasures from their trip to France.

They are not looking for souvenirs but what we could call family heirlooms. They now have pieces of their uncle's plane that he was piloting when it crashed in a small village near Normandy.

The couple, accompanied by two adult sons, traveled to France to attend a ceremony in honor of Nicole Sounders' great-uncle. In August 1944, a 14-year-old girl, Marie Bastien, now 94 years old, watched her plane crash. His family fought to continue his legacy.

So, in the village of Saint Ellier Les Bois, French dignitaries and local leaders honored Chaufty with a memorial to be erected in their town. They also showed the Saunders family the location where Chaufty's plane crashed and where his body was later found, a few miles away.

“It was amazing because at both sites they had American flags placed right on the scene,” Nicole Saunders said. “And it was really touching to be in the middle of rural France and see American flags, you know, to honor my Uncle Paul.”

NBC Nightly News followed the Saunders as the village unveiled a memorial for Chaufty, the event hosted by Bastien's family.

“It’s not a very big town and yet there were over 200 people there,” David Saunders said.

He said the trip was emotional.

“They all came with their own specialized flag in order to show the solidarity of the whole region,” he said.

The Saunders also met schoolchildren who had drawn pictures with a real understanding of history.

“They didn’t forget it and they passed it on,” David Saunders said.

The Saunders left the village with a greater connection to the past and new friendships that will last a lifetime.

“He wasn’t just a lone guy,” they said. “He was part of something big and it was amazing to see how deeply they remembered it and how deeply touched they were by it.”