Playing Dead

The night before D-Day, June 6, 1944, American soldiers of the 82nd Airborne were parachuting in waves into the area west of Sainte-Mère-Église. Earlier, an aerial attack had hit the town, and a stray incendiary bomb set a house ablaze just east of the square. The church bell rang to warn of the fire, drawing many townspeople who formed a bucket brigade under the watch of the German garrison. By 1:00am, the square was brightly lit and crowded with German soldiers and villagers when, by mistake, two planeloads of paratroopers from the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment were dropped right over the village. The error spelled disaster and almost certain death for the paratroopers.

The paratroopers were easy targets in any maneuver, especially in such a grave error, and Private John Marvin Steele was one of the few who survived. He took a wound to the foot from a burst of flak, but as he drifted down to almost certain death, his parachute snagged on one of the steeple pinnacles of Our Lady of the Assumption Church (Église Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption), leaving him dangling from the side. For two hours, he hung there motionless, pretending to be dead, until the Germans captured him. Just four hours later, wound and all, Steele managed to escape and rejoin his division when US troops from the 505th’s 3rd Battalion attacked the village, capturing 30 Germans and killing 11 more. For his bravery and injuries in combat, Steele received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

After healing from his wounds, Steele 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. Sadly, Steele died of throat cancer on May 16, 1969, in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He was buried at the Masonic Cemetery in Metropolis, Illinois. Today, a mannequin still hangs from the steeple of Our Lady of the Assumption Church to honor his incredible story. While some historians have debated the details of the story, the event remains a major, iconic piece of D-Day history and is prominently featured in the 1962 film The Longest Day. As for the citizens of Sainte-Mère-Église, they know the truth and could never be convinced otherwise. This iconic piece of history will always be a part of the town, and the church still displays the mannequin, 82 years later to assure that fact.