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Please explain the photo of St Mer Eglise.
I know the story of the 82 air borne trooper who hung from that tower. But is that some kind of permanant memorial?
Or a display they put up annually?


The figure representing Pvt John Steele of the 506 PIR hangs from the church every single day, year round. The stained glass windows of the church show American paratroopers as angels too. We might be hated in the rest of France (especially Paris), but we're loved in Normandy.


Seeing those beaches is pretty moving - to say nothing of those long, long rows of white crosses.
For fans of BOB (Band of Brothers), I found the site of the German 88s that CPT Winters and E co were tasked to destroy. It's not marked by any sign, and it's in the middle of some farmers field with cows wandering all over it, but by checking the mission maps and some crafty land nav, I found it. Right now it's just some depressions in the ground, but here's a photo of the site, and the road where they must have staged for the assault, complete with nasty thick hedgerows.


SFC, US Army (Ret)