Onondaga, N.Y. - It was 1944. Air Force Lt. Edward Fulmer, an East Syracuse boy, was 25.

Fulmer was part of a massive effort to liberate the Netherlands and Germany from the Nazis: Operation Market Garden.

The first day, Fulmer flew a plane full of paratroopers into the enemy territory, dodging fire. His plane was hit, but he completed his mission and returned safely. His first mission the second day went similarly. But his second flight that day would forever change his life.

Fulmer was the co-pilot Sept. 19, 1944. The plane was full of paratroopers ready to jump into enemy territory.

As the plane set out over the Netherlands, it was hit by enemy fire. The pilot was killed by one of the shots. The plane was on fire and lost a wing. Fulmer took over, flying the burning plane smoothly enough so the paratroopers could jump.

Then Fulmer went down with the plane. He was burned and part of his back was broken as the plane slammed into the ground. And he was in enemy territory. But members of the Dutch resistance found Fulmer and pulled him out of the plane. They took him to a doctor and then a Dutch family hid Fulmer and took care of him. He was able to go to a hospital a few weeks later, when British and American troops took back the region near the Dutch village of Den Bosch.

For his bravery, Fulmer was made a knight in Military Order of William by the queen of the Netherlands in 1946. Roughly 200 soldiers were knighted for their bravery following the war. By 2017, Williams was one of three from the war who were still alive.

Fulmer died at 98 Dec. 31, 2017. And though his funeral was during a brutal snowstorm Friday afternoon, a delegation of 20 people from the Netherlands, including the Dutch Ambassador to the U.S., came to Syracuse to pay their respects.

The story, which Fulmer had to be prodded to tell in bits and pieces over his lifetime, is well-known to the people in the country he helped so many years ago.

"We want to keep him close, to say we haven't forgotten you," said Henne Schuwer, the Dutch Ambassador to the U.S. Schuwer also came to Syracuse Friday for Fulmer's funeral. "You sacrificed almost everything for the liberation of our country; we owe you this."

Fulmer also received a Purple Heart, Distinguished Service Cross, Air Medal and the New York State Conspicuous Service Cross.

When he returned home from the war, it was to the love of his life, Lucille Fulmer. The two married just before he went off to fight.

Fulmer built a house, himself, in Onondaga where he and Lucille raised their family.

His granddaughter, Alaina Lynet, knows the story well. It took longer than her grandfather hoped to build that house because there were wood shortages following the war. He was proud of the house he built himself. He was more likely, perhaps, to talk about that than the war.

Fulmer lived a quiet life in that house for nearly all of his remaining years. It wasn't until the final six weeks of his life that he had to move to the VA Hospital in Syracuse, Lynet said.

As she grew older, Lynet asked her grandfather to tell her the stories of his medals and the war.

"As a kid, I knew he was a war hero, but I didn't know what that meant," Lynet said. But as an adult, she asked him about every detail both so she could know, and so she could tell her children.

"I told him he was my hero," Lynet said. She has some of his medals and news clippings about him on the wall of her home.

Every year, often more than once, Dutch officials would visit Fulmer and thank him. The most recent visit was just six weeks before his death. That was another man, a Dutch soldier who fought in Afghanistan, who also had been knighted into the Order of William. It was so important, Schuwer said, for Fulmer to know how grateful the Dutch people still are, all these years later.

That solider, Gijs Pepijn Tuinman, also attended Fulmer's funeral.

Some of the paratroopers Fulmer saved that day used to come visit him every year, too, Lynet said. But like so many who could tell the stories of that day, and that war, they are now gone.

After the war, Fulmer managed an A&P grocery store for 35 years. Lucille worked in retail. They had three children. Now, Lucille suffers from Alzheimer's Disease. Fulmer cared for her as long as he could, but a few years ago she had to be moved to a nursing home. This, his granddaughter said, broke his heart.

The two met on a blind date, and were still in love 73 years later.

"They had a love you never see any more," Lynet said.

His family, she said, was the most important thing to Fulmer.

"He just wanted to make sure his family was taken care of," she said.

Marnie Eisenstadt writes about people, life and culture in Central New York. Have an idea or question? Contact her anytime: email | twitter | Facebook | 315-470-2246