(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.
“Well, I remember being very, very small and asking where my daddy was, and I was told he died in the war. And I accepted that,” Allen said.
Allen said her mother didn’t talk about her father, so she grew up not knowing much about him, but thanks to the help of one of her sons, she finally got some answers.
“He found the article when my dad had died, and he brought me those articles. I was off and running,” Allen said.
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.
“It was stunning. Just I mean, it was like, you know, the proverbial needle in the haystack,” Allen said.
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. Eventually, Allen made the journey to the American Cemetery in Normandy where her father is buried.
She had her congressman write to obtain her father’s medals, including the Purple Heart and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
Pvt. Talhelm was 17 years old when he died.