We spent the night in this town on Sat (5/2). This was the first town liberated by the allies in WWII. It was taken by the paratroopers. If you watched the movie “The Longest Day” this is the town where one group of paratroopers were released too early. Instead of landing a few kilometers out of town, they landed in the center of town. Of 18 from this group, 15 were killed when they landed. One of them had his chute caught on the church steeple. His name was John Steele. The church has a mock parachute to show this, although it is inaccurate. Steele landed on the other side to the church, away from the plaza so the Germans did not see him. He lost his knife, so he could not cut himself down. He lived.
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