AN ANDOVER man has told of a chance meeting with a 101-year-old American veteran who was stationed near his hometown during the Second World War.

Bagpipe player Steve Black attended the D-Day 80th anniversary event in Carantan, France, where he led a parade of more than 500 people, including 50 veterans ranging from 97 to 107-years-old all based in Paris, where he now lives.

The 64-year-old dad has told of his surprise at meeting veteran Ceo Bauer at the event who was stationed in Barton Stacey – the same place where Steve’s father Bob Black was stationed before he went to join the army of occupation in Germany at the end of the war, and close to where Steve grew up in Andover.

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(Image: Steve Black) “What an amazing coincidence to meet one of the 50 veterans remaining and one of them came from so close to my hometown of Andover,” he said, adding: “At the big parade and following the ceremony in Carantan I went to say hello.

“I asked him where he was stationed in England before D-Day, as my grandparents had many American soldiers billeted with them at this period in Nether Wallop. He replied that he was stationed in Barton Stacy.”

Ceo is a former 377th Infantry Regiment rifleman who was drafted into the US Army in 1943 and was on the beaches during D-Day in 1944. He took part in the anniversary event accompanied by family and friends, flying over Normandy for the first time since he served.

Steve previously appeared in the Advertiser in 2021 after becoming the icon of a new D-Day memorial. 

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(Image: Steve Black) He was pictured playing the bagpipes at dawn on June 6 as the British Normandy Memorial was opened. He was then featured around the world as an enduring symbol of the monument.

Steve’s family has lived in and around Andover for decades, with his grandfather, Charlie Plumb, a soldier at the Somme. His grandfather would later see American soldiers billeted with the family before they headed off to D-Day, with only one of the seven returning.

Steve grew up in Andover, attending Andover Boys School and undertaking his apprenticeship at Boscombe Down. He lived in town for 40 years, and still has many friends in the area, including those in the Wallops where he subsequently moved before heading to France.

He took up the bagpipes eight years ago, and plays with a group of Parisians.