as the second world war gets increasingly distant from Modern perception contemporary people lose
track of the importance of certain events and erroneously assign significance to others after
the development of the atomic bomb the idea of a great power conflict became increasingly alien
to the modern world to the point that a single pockmark will often make current journalists a
spouse for entire articles an example is the story of Private John Marvin Steele a
paratrooper from World War II who Fringe death for two hours as he hung from a French Church
steeple while this is undoubtedly impressive the perceived importance of this event has been blown
exceedingly out of proportion it's to the point that some assign more importance to him than to
his division the 82nd Airborne today we discover the story of John Marvin Steele and decide whether
it's fact or myth I'm your host Ryan silkash and you're watching it it's history [Music]
since Warfare took to the skies tacticians have attempted to drop ground troops from Planes and
this wasn't just restricted to infantry there were several attempts to deploy tanks to the
battlefield via the air but never to any Avail the second world war saw all major Powers use
paratroopers throughout its entire duration but they were not as well equipped as modern
paratroopers are for one the parachutes often didn't have controls to direct the path of descent
meaning that troops often landed so far apart that they could barely form a coherent front divisions
also had to drop their weapons and caches with their own parachutes meaning isolated paratroopers
had nothing but knifes and small arms to defend themselves deep Behind Enemy Lines as the soldiers
could not control their parachutes paratroopers sometimes got caught on various tall structures
buildings and trees could strand a paratrooper for hours often equating to a death sentence for
example the German paratroopers did not have any means to steer their parachutes during the first
primarily aerial invasion in history the invasion of Crete most troops were shot out of the sky or
killed deep Behind Enemy Lines there are even a few accounts of cretan farmers killing German
paratroopers caught in trees well it ended in an axis Victory it was very costly and
the German paratroopers never saw another major aerial Invasion however the American Airborne
Division saw action right up to the war's end the United States had five active Airborne divisions
during World War II the 11th 13th 17th 82nd 101st of these the 82nd and 101st saw action on D-Day
our Focus will be on the 82nd airborne the 82nd division was an infantry division during World
War One first established on August the 5th 1917 nicknamed All-American by its General because it
had soldiers from All 48 states it saw action all throughout the US's participation in the conflict
after World War One the United States returned most of its Army to reserves keeping all of its
officers but only one-third of its troops the 82nd existed relatively unevently throughout the
interwar period based in South Carolina Georgia and Florida but that all changed with the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor on the 7th of December 1941 as did so many other things in America Major
General Omar and Bradley oversaw the reactivation of the 82nd infantry on March the 25th 1942 but it
didn't last on the 15th of August 1942 the 82nd May history reorganizing as the 82nd Airborne
under Major General Matthew B Ridgeway the first American Airborne Division in history the 327th
Infantry Regiment one of the three primary fighting regiments making up the division was
then transferred to the 101st Airborne Division the second Airborne Division the United States had
started dispatched to Fort Bragg North Carolina in October they received paratrooper training jumping
from c-47 transport planes and glider training also towed by the Transporters by the spring
of 1943 the 82nd crossed the Atlantic Landing in Casablanca on the 10th of May they then went to
Tunisia where they prepared for their first combat operation Operation husky the Allied invasion of
Sicily parachuting to take The High Ground above Ponte Olivio Airfield in the northeast
of jela on the 9th of July 1943 The Landing being scattered the 505th parachute Infantry Regiment
and troops from the 3rd Battalion of the 504th all around still they captured the objectives
and linked up with the first Infantry Division the next day throughout 1943 they took part in
several operations in southern Italy culminating in operation shingle on the 22nd of January 1944.
a German officer actually described the landing of the 504th regiment as Devils and baggy pants and
the nickname stuck the 82nd division then pulled out of Italy and relocated to Southern Britain in
preparation for Operation Neptune better known as the D-Day Landings The Division reorganized
for this attack gaining two new parachute regiments the 507th and the 508th since it was
still recovering from the operations in Italy the 504th did not take part in The Landings the first
Allied boots to touch ground during Operation Neptune were paratroopers on the 5th of July
six hours before the amphibious Landings The 82nd landed three parachute infantry regiments behind
the beaches of Normandy in the largest Airborne assault in history facing heavy German pressure
they fought to secure Bridgehead at lafere eventually securing it with reinforcements
on the 9th of June during the fighting private Charles and deglopper of the 325th glider Infantry
Regiment held his platoon's position entirely by himself earning him a medal of honor for
his heroism the 82nd continued capturing several objectives across Normandy returning to England
on the 13th of July 1944 over the course of 33 days the 82nd had five thousand 245 paratroopers
dead wounded or missing but their after-action report revealed what it accomplished 33 days
of action without relief without Replacements every mission accomplished no ground gained
was ever relinquished Private John Marvin Steele made his mark on History during these drops so
let's take a moment to tell a story born on the 29th of November 1912 and raised in Metropolis
Illinois John Marvin Steele was the eldest of seven siblings having four brothers and two
sisters a College Dropout since he decided he didn't want to be a barber he entered the Army
in 1941 at the age of 29 entering the 505th parachute infantry regiments F company he was
the oldest of the company 32 at the time of the D-Day Landings using what he learned in college to
become the company's resident Barber most of his fellow soldiers in F company were teens but they
all volunteered to join the Army he traveled with the 82nd to North Africa during operation husky
he broke a leg but recovered and took part in a jump on Naples without injury from there he joined
the 82nd once more traveling to England for the D-Day assault dropping ahead of The Landings to
cut off the German Retreat steel dropped with his company over the town of Saint Mirren glace they
faced heavy fire from German infantry and still got shot in the foot his parachute got caught
on the church's steeple as he approached the ground he was stuck he attempted to cut himself
free with his knife but dropped it after making little progress with nothing else to save him he
decided his odds of survival would be better if he just played dead the Germans would have
easily killed him if they thought he was alive so as the rest of f company parachuted and 12 of
his fellow men were killed wounded or captured he could do nothing but watch eventually a few
Germans Rudolph May and Rudy Esther realized he was still alive cut him down and took him prisoner
they administered some Aid to him but he escaped after Sev several days in captivity after D-Day
he participated in operation Market Garden in the Netherlands and the Battle of Bulge he received
bronze star for Valor and the Purple Heart on account of that wounded foot now you might be
asking yourself is that it is that all there is to this guy well his story is certainly
interesting it's not exactly revolutionary however in the present day his story has received a great
deal of public attention it all started in the late 1950s when Irish journalist Cornelius Ryan
approached Steel in a letter asking him where he was during the D-Day Landings his response
led to Ryan calling him on the telephone for more details when the book titled the longest day came
out in November of 1959 Ryan told Steele's story in roughly 12 lines the book debuted
to critical Acclaim worldwide making Steele's story extremely well known this Fame only grew
with the movie adaptation of the book in 1962. in fact the Cinematic version of this count won
five accolades including two Academy Awards for Best Cinema photography and special effects a
Golden Globe award for the best cinematography and several other nominations as a result the
story of private steel had gone Global in a big way and found itself on a similar pedestal to
many other much more daring and important Tales the story of the church paratrooper still finds
itself in many other works even in modern times there's even a nod to it in the First Call of
Duty game where one can see a paratrooper from the 101st Airborne wrong division but it's clear
who it's referring to for the 67th anniversary of The Landings send Mary and glace featured a
replica of steel hanging from the steeple in the same place where he initially was set up
on the 2nd of June 2011. this Effigy is still there and has drawn the ire of several groups
Paul we're here in Santa Mary glees and it's incredible I see that there is a paratrooper
hanging off the church I saw that the officials signed to the town also featured that story and
there was a lot of tourists so it definitely brings people in and invigorates the uh memories
of the event but I wonder does there come a time or a line where you know celebrating history in
this way perverts history yeah absolutely tourism and the visitation of visitors changes things
because the story we've just filmed about the paratrooper there on the church in my opinion
as a historian has been living and working for 20 years it didn't happen and if it did happen
and the small chance it did happen it's not important it's a sideshow event that has become
um blown up into something far more important than it than it deserves and uh and so dozens
and dozens of tour buses come here a week in the summer and they all get out the bus now
I've seen that in the movie it was John Wayne it was this it was that and they think that
this is an important story and I say I just don't think it is and it's happening increasingly as
as we're moving away from veterans being able to visit these battlefields and and be honest about
what they experienced that the histography the versions of things um even cafes now have little
D-Day displays of course no one is is overseeing the authenticity and accuracy of those displays
and bnbs and hotels have little displays and it's leading to a gradual thinning out and Distilling
of accuracy and I'm I'm saying that sounding like a bit of a a grumpy middle-aged guy because I am
a grumpy middle-aged guy but um it is a problem and it is going to be a concern as we move forward
if you had things your way would you take that down I would and I would not only take it down
I would get the Men in Black device and I would say and nobody now knows anything about this and
I just remove the story from the histography I would just take it out of every single book
and focus on what the ad second Airborne actually did on D dive important securing
roads curing Bridges Crossroads and and take just take this story away finally I'd like to
like can any other Behavior by tour the wrong way [Music]
um you see a bit of a sensationalizing of things and people are going to get excited over you know
bullet holes and shrapnel damage and things like that and and it's okay to think it's important
to be oh wow there's still evidence there but being kind of gleeful about it is a bit weird
um and it's I think because distance is increasing people who come here now maybe haven't even got a
grandparent as involved in this so it sounds a bit more like a an event very far in the past
now so there's no emotion anymore but you know when I was coming here in my teens you know you
were meeting veterans who fought here and their children who you know the French villagers here
then will remember the building being on fire that morning they remember seeing dead power
drives in the in the in the trees here most of the businesses here now are owned by people who've
moved in from outside of Normandy to make money which is fine I've been living here making money
for 20 years but it means that the understanding of of what actually happened in Normandy and the
loss of life has been a little bit a little bit lost sometimes now it's not exactly a secret that
popular history tends to sensationalize stories for publicity but this is an example of priorities
getting completely scrambled for an exciting or even just an interesting tale there are so many
stories to be told about D-Day and for some reason we find ourselves laser focused on stuff like this
intriguing no doubt but inconsequential in the grand scheme the 82nd Airborne had so many tales
of Bravery on D-Day such as private deglopper but stories like that find themselves forgotten in
favor of something such as this why do you think that is tell us your thought in the comments below
and make sure you check out Paul's channel for a much deeper take on D-Day history and look out
for the World War II special coming on time ghost until next time guys I'm Ryan silkash signing off