A Midnight Drop into Chaos
In the early hours of June 6, 1944, during Operation Overlord, Private John Marvin Steele of the 82nd Airborne Division parachuted into Sainte-Mère-Église, a key village in Normandy, France. What was meant to be a coordinated airborne assault turned into a deadly misdrop.
Due to navigation errors, Steele’s unit from the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment descended directly over the illuminated town square, where German troops and villagers had gathered to fight a fire caused by stray incendiary bombs.
Hanging on the Church Steeple
As Steele descended, he was wounded in the foot by anti-aircraft fire and his parachute caught on a pinnacle of the village church. Dangling helplessly above the square, he hung there for nearly two hours, pretending to be dead to avoid drawing attention.
Beneath him, other paratroopers were shot as they landed, making Steele one of the few from his stick to survive the drop.
Capture and Escape
Eventually, German soldiers discovered Steele, cut him down, and took him prisoner. Four hours later, amid the chaos of the 505th’s 3rd Battalion counterattack, Steele managed to escape captivity.
The battalion’s assault successfully captured 30 German soldiers and killed 11 others, securing Sainte-Mère-Église as one of the first French towns liberated during D-Day. For his actions, Steele received the Bronze Star for valor and the Purple Heart for his combat wounds.
Later Years and Remembrance
Steele survived the war, frequently returning to Sainte-Mère-Église, where he became an honorary citizen. Today, the town commemorates his ordeal with the Airborne Museum and a parachute effigy hanging from the church steeple, marking where he became an enduring figure of D-Day. Steele passed away on May 16, 1969, from throat cancer and was buried in Metropolis, Illinois.
D-Day, June 6, 1944: Private John M. Steele parachuted into a brightly lit Sainte-Mère-Église and ended up where no paratrooper planned—the church tower.
The town glowed from a fire as Germans and villagers filled the square below…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/l40JW2bNKS
— Fascinating True Stories (@FascinatingTrue) September 7, 2025