A Jones County family recently received answers to questions about the death of a husband and father in a small town in Germany, 50 years after the plane crash that took his life.
Capt. Donnie Lee Maynard and 1st Lt. John Wayne Roberts were killed Oct. 17, 1975, during a training exercise near Eiershiem, Germany, and until this summer, that was all the families knew.
Gray Police Department Capt. Eric Maynard received an email this summer from Christian Orth, a military historian who lived in the town. Maynard said he almost deleted the email, but his wife Cheney encouraged him to read it.
The email said, for 50 years, the town was under the mistaken belief that the plane and pilots were Canadian, but current research found out they were American. The historian was able to find contact information for Maynard at the police department.
The story about the death of the pilots did not end with correcting their country. It was also about the gratitude of the town’s people for the sacrifice made by the two young airmen.
Orth told Eric that his father and Roberts could have ejected from their plane, but it would have crashed into the small town. By staying in the aircraft, the pilots were able to make it past the town and to the hill beyond, sparing the townspeople.
That information was relayed by eyewitnesses who still live in Eiershiem.
The town of Eiershiem decided to redo the memorial to honor the two U.S. Air Force officers and invited the Maynard family to attend. Eric said the invitation was immediately accepted, and the family started making plans to go.
Eric, Cheney, his mother Dale, two sons Owen and Wade and his nephew Dylan Bowden went to the dedication and spent five days in the small town.
“We were treated like family. Their historic society had an itinerary and kept us busy,” the captain said.
Eric and Cheney’s son Wesley is a Marine who graduated basic training in August and was not able to make the trip.
Maynard said there were American Flags everywhere they went. The memorial was on the actual crash site, and the dedication included a speech by the mayor, Thomas Schregimann, and Deacon Wolfgang Krug. The family was even provided with an interpreter, Lena.
Dale Maynard wrote a letter about the day she received the news of her husband’s death, which was read by Eric at the dedication. He said he would read a paragraph, and then Lena would read it in German.
“They sacrificed their chance to eject, ensuring the safety of countless others on the ground. That’s the real story, and it’s a heroic one,” the letter stated. “Donnie was, and always will be, our hero.”
The wife went on to say the memorial is a testament to the bravery of the pilots and expressed her gratitude to the town.
One of the most amazing things that happened at the memorial was the presentation of actual pieces of the crashed plane. Apparently, some of the townspeople found the small pieces after the military had left the site, and they had been kept all these years.
After receiving the items, the son said it was the right time to bring them home.
The week’s activities included a church service Sunday, during which Bowden was asked to speak.
Eric said the family was not allowed to pay for anything during their stay and described the experience as a once-in-alifetime trip.
He was 16 months old when his father was killed in the plane crash. Capt. Donnie Lee Maynard was buried in a cemetery on Joycliff Road, but he has since been moved to the Georgia Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Milledgeville.
Eric said standing on the crash site in Germany was the closest he had ever felt to his dad.
He said he and his family are appreciative to everyone involved who made the experience of the memorial dedication possible.
“For 50 years, all mom knew was my dad died in a plane crash. We would have never known he died a hero,” the son commented.
