CHARLESTON — Army Private Cecil Toler, 20, of Charleston, was killed in action during the D-Day landings eight decades ago, and he has been buried alongside his fallen comrades ever since in Normandy, France.
Thanks to the efforts of a father and daughter from Bloomington, Toler's newly researched life story will be told and his sacrifice will be memorialized next month in Normandy during the 81st anniversary of the Allied liberation of France.
Toler
Bloomington resident Michael Soares, an English teacher at Pontiac Township High School, said he has long been aware that his grandfather, Sgt. Arthur Soares, served in the D-Day landings, but he had known very little about the Army veteran's experiences there. His grandfather died in 2013.
"He would tell us stories, but he would never tell us the full story of his experiences. He kept most of that to himself," Soares said, adding that such reticence has been common among those who saw the horrors of World War II firsthand.
Soares, who enjoys enrolling in educational travel programs, said this shortage of knowledge about his grandfather recently drew him and his daughter, 17-year-old Abbie, to a program offered by the Albert H. Small Normandy Institute at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Pontiac High School English teacher Michael Soares and his daughter Abbie, a junior at Bloomington High School, are pictured on March 21, 2025, at the Coles County Historical Society's museum in the Mattoon train depot while studying D-Day casualty Private Cecil Toler of Charleston for an Albert H. Small Normandy Institute research project. ROB STROUD, LEE ENTERPRISES
The institute takes high school students through an intensive program to learn about the 1944 Normandy campaign. This semester-long program for student-teacher teams culminates with them traveling to Washington and Normandy.
Participating students research chosen topics pertaining to D-Day and the lives of soldiers buried at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-Sur-Mer, France. There, at the soldiers' gravesides, these young scholars present the biographies about the soldiers they have researched.
"I thought it would be a really interesting perspective and a way to travel," said Abbie, who is a junior at Bloomington High School. She added, "It is very interesting. I am learning a lot of things I didn't learn in class."
Soares, who is helping as the teacher half of the team with his daughter, said they decided to research Toler because he is from Central Illinois and served in the 1st Infantry Division's 16th Regiment, the same unit as his grandfather.
"I feel that investigating Private Toler’s story will also tell us more about my grandfather," Soares said.
In March, Abbie and her father's research took them to Charleston. There, they visited the courthouse square and other neighborhoods from Toler's youth. Toler worked at a butcher shop while he was in high school. He later worked at a Deep Rock Oil service station in Charleston and the Kuehne furniture factory in Mattoon.
Michael Soares and his daughter Abbie, 17, of Bloomington get a guided tour from local historical Carolyn Cloyd on March 21, 2025, at the Coles County Historical Society's museum in the Mattoon train depot while studying D-Day casualty Private Cecil Toler of Charleston for an Albert H. Small Normandy Institute research project. ROB STROUD, LEE ENTERPRISES
The researching duo also met with local historian Carolyn Cloyd at the Coles County Historical Society's museum in the Mattoon train depot, which includes World War II exhibits.
Soares said their efforts were also greatly assisted by Charleston High School sophomore Gunner Barr, who wrote an article about Toler for the CHS Press student newspaper during his freshman year.
Barr said he took on this extracurricular task to bring attention to Toler and 20 other Charleston graduates killed in World War II, whose names are listed on an often-overlooked memorial plaque near the school's front office.
"We had several from Charleston give the ultimate sacrifice that day," Gunner said. The sophomore said he is honored to have helped Michael and Abbie Soares with their research on Toler, adding that he plans to continue writing about other fallen soldiers. "I am not done with this."
Charleston High School sophomore Gunner Barr stands next to a memorial on campus to CHS alumni killed in World War II, including D-Day casualty Private Cecil Toler. Barr has researched Toler and other World War II service members from his school for the CHS Press student newspaper. ROB STROUD, LEE ENTERPRISES
Barr's article drew upon the 16th Infantry Association's account of the Normandy landings to describe what Toler would have experienced that day, June 6, 1944, while part of F Company in the lead element landed on Omaha beach under fire from German forces.
Toler was serving as one of the regiment's engineers, whose responsibilities included using specialized tools to clear a path through landmines for their fellow soldiers.
“As landing craft dropped their ramps, men were killed and wounded as they attempted to get out of their boats. Others were hit as they struggled through the surf or ran across the sand weighed down with water-logged equipment," Barr's report read, citing the 16th Infantry Association's account. Toler and approximately 200 others from the 16th were killed there. “By noon of that bloody day, the 16th Infantry had broken through and had established a foothold that allowed follow-on units to move through.”
Soares said D-Day veteran Sgt. Lombarski recalled in the collection "No Mission Too Difficult!: Old Buddies of the 1st Division Tell All About World War II" that "being in that first wave was like committing suicide." The sergeant later added, "E and F Companies were on a virtual suicide mission. It’s a miracle any of us survived.”
Toler's cause of death was later listed as "artillery shell, fragments" in U.S. World War II Hospital Admission card files, which Soares and his daughter have studied.
Soares said his memories of his grandfather, who served as a gunner with L Company, are of a man who was typically happy and smiling. He said it's difficult to balance those recollections with what his grandfather must have gone through during the D-Day landings.
"The reality, since we didn't experience it, is really hard to fathom," Soares said. He added, "Sometimes the reality just hits you. I couldn't believe Grandpa did all that."
The Bloomington man and his daughter are set to travel on June 18 to Washington, where their itinerary will include researching Toler and his experiences further at the National Archives.
On June 22, they are scheduled to fly to Paris and take a bus to the Normandy region. Soares said Abbie will make a presentation on their research at the Ardenne Abbey, where German forces massacred 20 Canadian soldiers.
"Along the way, we will visit Utah, Juno and Omaha beaches," Soares said. "Omaha Beach is where Private Toler died, and my grandfather landed an hour later and managed to survive."
The duo are slated to complete their research project on June 27, when they present their remembrance for Toler and other fallen soldiers at the Normandy American Cemetery.
Abbie said she grew up hearing stories about her great-grandfather, who died when she was a baby, so it's been interesting for her to learn about his service via Toler, and she looks forward to seeing where they served firsthand.
"To be my kid's teacher, even for a few couple months, has been a real honor," said Soares, who has always taught in a different school district from his daughter. Soares said he is proud that she has taken on such an extensive research project about D-Day. "She is one of few people her age I would trust to keep up with the work."