The day started out with a bus ride to the memorial of the Bataile a la Fére, a memorial to medics during World War II. There we saw a tribute to the medics along with a statue in tribute to American airborne soldiers, also known as paratroopers. Paratroopers played a huge role in WWII in which they were the first people on the ground and would then survey and scout the land for other soldiers to come in. The only problem with the paratroopers, that we learned was that they often landed in the wrong zones.
After that we then headed to the Sainte-Mère-Église, where a paratrooper named John Steele had landed by mistake. Like many other paratroopers Steele landed in the wrong zone during World War II. Steele ended up landing on the tower of a church instead of his correct drop zone. To pay tribute to Steele the church has a mannequin of a paratrooper on the tower in full uniform with his parachute open on the tower.
Overall, it was a great day learning about the paratroopers and the huge role they played in WWII. They were a pivotal part of the American troops and allowed the troops to have a better read on the land before coming to Normandy.
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