catch fire in the village square early on the
morning of D-Day, thereby ensuring the
square was lit up and full of German sol-
diers as two planeloads of paratroopers
were mistakenly dropped directly over the
town. They were easy targets. John Steele
was famously suspended from the church
for hours when his parachute got caught on
one of the steeples. He was shot in the foot,
and pretended to be dead while hanging
for two hours from the church. He lost the
hearing in one ear from his proximity to the
ringing bells in the church steeple. He later
escaped from German custody, rejoined his
unit and was awarded the Bronze Star for
valor. He visited Sainte-Mere-Eglise
often until his death in 1969,
and was made an honorary
townsperson. A replica of him in
uniform hangs suspended, parachute and
all, from the church steeple in memoriam.
As we stand in line for our sandwiches in a
café just off the square, an old man, Mr. Me-
lion, greets Guillaume familiarly. "He was
here on D-Day," says Guillaume, and the man
explains that he was 15 years old, and was
pulled out of harm's way from an exploding
shell by a German soldier. "He saved my
life," he says, with a smile and a shrug, and
you wonder about the conflict he must feel.
