Utah - St Mere Eglise

Up at not quite the crack of dawn but certainly early enough to beat any traffic heading to St Mere Eglise from Bayeux - about a 40 min jaunt along the N13. Almost arrived before the boulangarie was open! Sacre Bleu - fortunately one croissant and pain au chocolat later the cafe had opened and fuel in the form of coffee taken on.

I'm using a guide by Major and Mrs Holt to get me round the beaches - Definitive Battlefield Guide series and the one on D-Day, sixth edition. Good read with plenty of the background 'colour' to each stop.

First stop on the Utah tour is St Mere Eglise - taken by US paratroops on the night / day of June 5th and 6th after some pretty confused fighting due to the appalling weather for parachuting. Some of the troops ended up 20 miles away! Lots of great stories about individual actions that night and day but my favourite is Private John Steele who ended up landing on the church roof and had to play dead all night to prevent himself getting shot for real!

Poor John Steele...