Arts & Entertainment
D-Day Plus 65 Years
By Linda McK.Stewart
This weekend marks the 65th anniversary of D-Day: June 5, 1944... 160,000 Allied troops, transported across the English Channel in more than 5,000 ships to land along an 80-mile stretch of Normandy's coast. Their mission: to wrest France from the iron-knuckle grip of Nazi Germany.
For the next several days dozens of celebrations, official and otherwise, commemorating those landings will take be taking place all along the Norman coast. At every such celebration the veterans of those tumultuous events will be the honored guests. So few remain.
In the 65 years that have elapsed since D-Day, official relations between France and the U.S. have swung back and forth between the solemn and the absurd. But in the minuscule town of Sainte Mère Eglise, where D-Day holds a very special significance, U.S.- French ties have never weakened. The town's claim to historical fame is firmly founded on one undoubted chunk of history: It was in main square of Sainte Mère Eglise that the very first American flag was raised over re-captured French soil, replacing the swastika which had flown over the town for four years. It was hoisted by Lt. Col. Edward Krause, who, along with the rest of the 505th Parachute Infantry Division dropped through the summer night sky into a murderous hotbed of German machine gun fire. Raising that flag was indeed an iconic moment. Simultaneously, Paratrooper John Steele was having his own iconic moment. Private First Class Steele of the 82nd Airborne's 505th Regiment, dropped by glider was plummeting earthward when his parachute snagged on the church spire. With one foot shattered by enemy fusillades, he dangled, helpless, in full view of the German sharpshooters in the square below. With the cunning of a survivor, he dropped his head onto his chest, feigning death. So successful was his ploy that the Germans redirected their guns to pick off the paratroopers who were floating down all over the town.
Today the story of John Steele and his snagged parachute are an integral part of town lore. Lest the tale ever fade from memory, a parachute, periodically replaced as needed, forever dangles from the church spire. Inside the church are two stained glass windows. One is of the Virgin Mary surrounded by paratroopers. The other depicts St. Michael, patron saint of paratroopers. Both windows were gifts from America. In the church square stands the Liberation Monument. When camera crews arrived to film The Longest Day, in the interest of historical accuracy, they wanted the monument removed. The townspeople refused. In concession, the footage of the liberation of the town was filmed with the monument concealed under a parachute. As for the flag hauled aloft by Edward Krause, it is on proud and permanent display in the Town Hall. It serves, says Marc Lefevre, the 58-year old Mayor of Sainte Mère Eglise, as a good reminder of "...everything you Americans did for us."
In all of Normandy D-Day or J-Jour as the French call it, is commemorated annually. But this year, being the 65th Anniversary, the plans are a tad more elaborate than usual. Time is running out. Soon, who will be left, combatant or civilian who was on the scene June 5, 1944? The Mayor takes seriously his responsibilities as custodian of the town's history. On Saturday June 6, if all goes as planned, he will receive the president of France along with a handful of American dignitaries. (No, no names as yet, but Monsieur Lefèvre is hoping for a respectable showing of American "anciens combatants." There will be a reception in the minuscule Airborne Museum where guests can ogle the 1944 American glider, fragile as a dragonfly, that hangs suspended from the ceiling. Other mementos of the war are displayed in glass-topped cases: cotton work pants with a yellow star of David sewn on them; a primitive-looking G.I. first aid kit for burns, consisting of nothing more than a roll of bandage and a tube of unidentified ointment; a kit for victims of gas inhalation; a box of Smith Brothers Cough Drops, the bearded brothers on the box; a button-polishing kit; the fleece-lined leather jacket of an American airman.
The museum reception will be followed by a formal, seated lunch in the church square, every place setting marked by miniature twin flags, the French tricolor and the American stars and stripes.
Sainte Mère Eglise is a farm town. It sits right in the center of some of the finest grazing land in all of France. Which of course explains why the area is renowned for its horse breeding farms and its dairy herds. It is also the perfect hub from which to make day trips to the many historically significant World War II sites. Omaha Beach is just down the road. The American, British and German military cemeteries, so moving in their vastness, are also nearby. This summer, almost anywhere in Normandy, you're guaranteed to meet returning veterans as well as civilian survivors who, without much coaxing, will share memories of that long-ago date: June 5, 1944. Not the end of the World War II, but the beginning of the end... which finally came 333 hard-fought days later.
IF YOU GO: For detailed information about World War II sites in Normandy, contact the French Tourist Office: 212.838.7800
