The Paratrooper Who Defied D-Day Odds

It’s June 6, 1944 — D-Day. Thousands of Allied paratroopers are jumping into Nazi-occupied

France. But one of them… had a little too much to drink. 🍷

Meet Private John Steele of the 82nd Airborne Division. Before jumping, he and his buddies

decided to calm their nerves with some French wine. By the time it was his turn to leap

from the plane, let’s just say he was feeling brave. He jumps… but things go horribly wrong.

His parachute gets stuck on the steeple of a church in the town of Sainte-Mère-Église. So there he is —

dangling high above the ground — while a full-blown battle explodes below him. Bullets flying,

buildings burning, soldiers shouting. Thinking fast, Steele pretends to be dead.