Normandy American Heroes retraces the path taken by this colorful character: from Normandy back to the United States, where he passed away in His name was Steele, John Steele, "John big ass", for his companions in arms!
He came from Illinois, a jaw-dropping fellow who loved to drink fresh beer, practice fly fishing, and listen to New Orleans jazz. His letters to the Normans were full of warm words for this distant land he had first seen from the sky, one night in June , and then trampled several times. Years have passed, forty-eight since his death, seventy three since D-day. John Steele will remain forever the savior hanging on the roof of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption on the evening of the decisive offensive. In the s, the Steeles were a model family living in Metropolis, Illinois.
His father, also named John, piloted freight boats on the brownish waters of Ohio. The couple raised seven children, two girls and five boys. John Marvin, the future paratrooper, was the eldest of the siblings. He was a tough guy, a good American football player, more a Democrat than a Republican. But when the United States entered the war at the end of , his fate was to change forever: while one of his brothers, James, opted for the navy and another, Norman, for the army, John joined the paratroopers at the ripe old age of Very soon, the missions followed one after the other, with a first battle jump on Sicily, during which he broke one leg, then a second on the Naples region, without injuries this time.
Steele and his companions from company F then took the boat to the United Kingdom, where the Allied forces were preparing the landing on the French coasts of Normandy. The little guy from Metropolis first stayed in Northern Ireland, the land of his ancestors, and then trained near Leicester, England. In a letter to his family, he wrote that he played golf on days of permission and managed to earn a few dollars by cutting the hair of his comrades; and charging an extra cost to officers!
Approximately 15, paratroopers of the 82nd and st Airborne Divisions took off from England with identified drop zones away from the swamp area. In the wake of battle to come, he climbed aboard a C, with about fifteen guys harnessed in commando style, his face grimed in black. To visualize what happened, one needs to be reminded that the majority of the Pathfinders who jumped before the Paratroopers to designate the drop area will not succeed.
