The Church of Sainte-Mère-Église

The town of Sainte-Mère-Église in Normandy, northwestern France, was the first in Europe to be liberated by the Allies from German occupation. The town commemorates this with numerous memorials and museums dedicated to those who fought and died during the liberation. A key memorial, and one of the most recognized symbols of the D-Day landings, is the church that stands in the centre of town. The church’s fame comes from John Steele, the American paratrooper who became stuck on the steeple during the night drop, where he hung for two hours pretending to be dead. To this day, a parachute with an effigy of Private Steele in his Airborne uniform hangs from the steeple.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Steele belonged to the 82nd Airborne Division and was one of 12,000 men from his division as well as the 101st Airborne Division to land in France as part of the D-Day invasion. Their mission was to capture key objectives such as bridges, road crossings, and terrain features immediately behind the landing areas, in order to facilitate the movement of amphibious forces off the beaches and, in some cases, to neutralise German coastal defence batteries.

Like hundreds of others, Steele jumped from his airplane at around 02:30 with the primary objective of capturing two bridges over the River Merderet and destroying two bridges over the Douve. They were supposed to land on the outskirts of Sainte-Mère-Église, but heavy flak forced the paratroopers to exit their planes prematurely. As they floated down, Steele and the others found themselves directly over the town square.

A few hours before the arrival of the Allied paratroopers, a fire broke out in one of the houses in downtown Sainte-Mère-Église, caused by a stray incendiary bomb. As the townsfolk gathered to fight the flames, some German soldiers also arrived to supervise the effort. It was then that they realized it was raining men. The Germans opened fire on the descending paratroopers, shooting several of them down like plastic ducks in a shooting gallery.

Sainte-Mère-Eglise as in June 1944. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Steele was wounded in the left foot but continued his descent toward the central square, where a barn was on fire. While trying to avoid the blaze, he crashed into the church. His parachute became entangled in one of the sculptures at the base of the bell tower, leaving him suspended a dozen meters above the ground. He tried to cut himself free, but his knife slipped from his grip and fell. Steele then decided to play dead to avoid enemy fire.

After two hours, the Germans cut him down, hoping to gather intelligence from what they assumed was a corpse. That was when they discovered he was still alive. He was taken prisoner but managed to escape four days later and rejoined his division before being evacuated to the United Kingdom. Once he recovered from his foot injury, he took part in the unsuccessful Allied operation Market Garden in the Netherlands, before ending up in an American camp near Marseille, France.

Steele was awarded the Bronze Star for valor and the Purple Heart for being wounded in combat. He continued to visit the town throughout his life and was made an honorary citizen of Sainte-Mère-Église. The tavern, Auberge John Steele, stands adjacent to the square and maintains his legacy through photos, letters and articles hung on its walls.

Steele died of throat cancer on May 16, 1969, in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

John Steele