Sainte-Mere-Eglise
An Introduction
Sainte-Mère-Église is a small town in the Manche department of Normandy on the Cotentin peninsula, lying about thirteen kilometres north-northwest of Carentan and thirty-nine kilometres southeast of Cherbourg.
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In the early hours of June 6, 1944, it became one of the first French towns liberated by Allied forces when American paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division landed there as part of the Normandy invasion.
One of the best-known episodes from that night involved Private John Steele of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, whose parachute snagged on the church tower spire. He hung there for almost two hours, playing dead until night patrols of German soldiers came by and took him prisoner. Today a mannequin paratrooper suspended from the church steeple recalls his ordeal.
Modern Sainte-Mère-Église serves as a local market and service centre for the surrounding agricultural plain, but its true identity is bound up with its D-Day heritage.
The town hosts the Airborne Forces Museum, which displays original gliders and a C-47 transport plane among its exhibits, alongside personal artefacts, photographs and dioramas.
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Commemorative memorials, small museums and themed shops draw visitors from around the world, and the annual D-Day commemorations remain a focal point for remembering the events of 1944.