Miracles and Succor at Normandy Churches

While we were looking for the towns that John's dad mentioned being in, we went to other towns where his division, the 90th, may also have passed through. Each town had a church with its own story.

In the above church at Angloville-au-Plaine, just a short drive from Utah Beach, two American medics treated U.S. and German soldiers, while the war went on around them. When German soldiers entered the church, the medics--Kenneth Moore and Robert Wright--insisted that they leave their guns outside and they complied.

They saved several lives. The evidence of the wounded is pictured above. Blood stains remain on the pews.

The contradictions of war are hard to get one's mind around: outside the church, Americans and Germans were killing each other and inside the church American medics were saving both. 

Church at Ste-Mere Eglise

We visited Ste-Mere Eglise, one of the first towns to be liberated by Americans after D-Day. Prior to the landing on June 6, U.S paratroopers were dropped over the area to support the invasion. Due to bad weather, many of the paratroopers were blown off course were killed by the Germans. The parachute of one of the soldiers, John Steele, became snagged on the church steeple, leaving him dangling there for hours. If you look closely at the photo above, you can see a facsimile of the soldier and his parachute. Pvt. Steele was captured by the Germans, but later escaped and survived the war.

Not far from Utah Beach is Ste.-Marie du Mont, another town with a church that was liberated by the Americans. A sign outside the church tells of some American and German soldiers who came face to face and decided not to fire. Other Germans hid in the church and were discovered in the Confessional.

Church at Ste Marie-du-Mont

Above, the first Mass held after the town was liberated.

Church at Ste. Marie du Mont