For nearly four years the swastika
had flown belligerently over the small town of Sainte Mère
Église in Normandy. But suddenly, shortly after midnight
on the night of 5/6 June 1944, parachutists from the 82nd Airborne
Division began landing in and around the town. One of them, John
Steele, even landed on the church, his chute caught on the steeple.
He survived.
By 04.30, after a tough fire fight, troopers from the 505th PIR
had raised another flag over the town – the Stars and Stripes
– and Sainte Mère Église had become the first
town in Normandy to be liberated by the Allies on D-Day. Sherman
tanks landing on nearby Utah Beach with the US VII Corps were
soon passing through the newly liberated town on the way to the
front. |