Paratroopers stormed France by air as part of the Normandy invasion as well. Saint Mere Eglise is home to the Airborne Museum, as it was one of the main towns where paratroopers landed to secure the higher grounds above the beaches.
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| DOUGLAS C47 plane |
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| WACO glider |
Gliders were used to deliver paratroopers as quietly as possible in the middle of the night, although they were dangerous and many people perished in the crash landings.
There is a statue of the paratrooper John Steele, whose parachute got caught on the side of this church. He could not free himself and pretended to be dead for two hours before the Germans took him prisoner. He later escaped from the Germans to rejoin his division and helped attack the village to capture 30 Germans and kill another 11 This incident was portrayed in the movie The Longest Day.
We visited Utah Beach on a beautiful crisp afternoon. We learned the troops landed here off course by about a mile, but Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. quickly investigated his surroundings to adapt the plan of attack, which was successful. He is known for famously exclaiming, "We’ll start the war from here!"
On our last morning in Normandy, we visited Arromanche to view the remnants of one of the two amazing temporary harbors that were built by the Allied forces. Pieces of the harbor were created in the UK and, as part of the invasion, were brought by ship across the English Channel and quickly assembled together to form a break wall and a working harbor that was used to unload tons and tons of military equipment fairly quickly and efficiently. The technology and speed with which they pieced together this harbor amazes me, as does the ability of the forces to keep this all covert. That would never happen in today's world with satellites and communication technology, but thank God they pulled it off then!
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