John Marvin Steele's Story
Staff Sergeant John Marvin Steele, November 29, 1912 - May 14, 1969
Born in Metropolis, IL, Massac County, to John and Josephine Steele, John Marvin Steele was the oldest of seven children. His father piloted freight boats on the Ohio River, while his mother took care of their home and children. By his own account, John Marvin was not a great student and eventually dropped out of college to focus on becoming a barber. When the United States joined World War II, John, age 29, and two of his brothers volunteered their services. John became a Paratrooper with the Army, brother James "Oney" joined the Navy and Norman joined the Army.
John Marvin Steele and brother, Norman.
In the Spring of 1943, Steele went to North Africa with the 82nd Airborne Division, Company F, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He first saw combat with a battle jump in Sicily where he broke his leg. Steele's second jump on the Naples region produced no injury. Company F took a ship to the United Kingdom where the Allied forces were preparing to invade the French coasts of Normandy. Steele said, "they didn't know where they were going, but knew it would be hot."
On the night of Monday, June 5, 1944, the Supreme Allied Commander General Eisenhower launched Operation Overlord. 15,000 paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions left England with identified drop zones away from the area. Their assignment was to drop near the town of Sainte-Mère-Eglise to cut off the German retreat from the beachhead landings. This was five to six hours before the infamous beach landings of the allied forces, and the orders had changed twice due to heavy concentration of German troops and uncertain weather conditions.
John Steele's mission was to jump near the outskirts of Sainte-Mère-Eglise taking control to facilitate the offensive planned at dawn 10 kilometers away on the coast at Utah Beach. Unsatisfactory weather conditions posed a hazard and combined with the inexperience of some of the pilots, led to the death of several members of F Company before they had completed their mission. As luck would have it, Steele's plane would be the only plane to drop troopers in the middle of the town.
Because of the German-imposed curfew, the town of Sainte-Mère-Eglise, like all towns in Normandy, was dark and shuttered tightly that night. The town had been the target of an aerial attack during which a stray incendiary bomb set fire to a building east of the town square. The Church bells were ringing out the alarm and a few townspeople had formed a bucket brigade to extinguish the blaze and prevent spreading. Under cover of darkness only the squadron leaders of the Airborne Divisions flew with their wing lights on. All other planes in the formation were dark. As the thirty or so German soldiers fired at the sound of unseen aircraft overhead, Company F jumped from their planes.
The paratroopers were easy targets for the Germans and many perished before landing. According to Kenneth Russell, one of the youngest in Company F, three soldiers, Harold Cadish, Vernon "Laddie" Francisco and HT Bryant landed on power poles and were killed while still in their parachutes. Steele remembered one soldier, Alfred Van Halshack, landing in the burning building. Another soldier, Charles Blankenship was killed by Germans as he landed in a tree. Trying to avoid the burning building themselves, Steele and Russell crashed into the beautiful XII Century church and were entangled on the corner spires.
A third Company F soldier, Sergeant John Ray, age 21, landed on the ground and was immediately shot by a German soldier. Believing him dead, the German soldier then pointed his weapon at the two suspended American soldiers before being killed by Ray who was able to shoot and kill the German before dying himself. Expecting to perish before ever touching French soil, Russell was able to cut the bindings of his parachute to free himself but was too late to save Ray. With a wounded foot and still suspended a dozen meters off the ground, Steele tried to cut himself loose, lost his grip on his knife dropping it on the roof below, which left him hanging from the church spire. Still conscious and aware of the battle below, Steele decided to play dead as a last resort. Seeing the lifeless Steele hanging from the church, Russell left to seek shelter. Twelve men of F-Company were killed, wounded or captured as they parachuted into the town square while Private Steele watched as he hung from the church.
For three long hours, John Steele hung from a spire of the church until two Germans, Rudolf May and Rudi Escher, positioned in the Bell tower above spotted him. Rather than leaving Steele for dead, they decided to cut him down to search for important papers. They cut the lines of his parachute, discovered he was alive and once on the ground, discussed whether to kill him or not. As luck would have it, Steele was, along with six other Americans, taken prisoner and held in an enemy command post. Four hours later the tanks that had landed at Utah Beach arrived and Steele escaped by sneaking through a window. Steele soon re-joined his division and returned to Sainte-Mère-Eglise to capture the village, which became the first French town liberated by the Allied Forces after the 6th of June, 1944.
Steele was taken back to the United Kingdom to be treated for his wounds. Once he recovered from his foot injury, he took part in the unsuccessful Allied military operation known as Market Garden in the Netherlands. He continued to serve in the Battle of the Bulge and the crossing of the Rhine River into Germany when the war ended. There were less than 3,000 paratroopers who jumped into combat four times with the 82nd Airborne Division during World War II. John Marvin Steele made all four jumps. Steele was reassigned to the 17th Airborne and went to Marseille, France to take the boat that would bring him home to the United States and civilian life in September, 1945.
John Marvin Steele would be awarded the Bronze Star for Valour and the Purple Heart for being wounded in combat. Like many other veterans, Steele spoke little of the war. His brother, Norman "Short Dog", was killed in Germany in April, 1945 just weeks before the cease fire. Brother James "Oney" was seriously wounded in the battle of Okinawa. Once home, Steele returned to civilian life working in various trade jobs before working for electricity companies.
On July 21, 1958, Steele received a letter from Frances Ward informing him of a book about D Day being written by Cornelius Ryan. With the help of the Department of Defense, Ryan contacted hundreds of men who went into Normandy between midnight June 5 and midnight June 6 regarding their memories. Each letter included a questionnaire seeking information and anecdotes about that 24 hour period. Having attended a recent 82nd Airborne convention in New York, Ryan was urged to talk to Steele to hear his story of that fateful night. After completing the questionnaire and speaking on the phone, John Marvin Steele became immortalized in the book The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan. The book was so popular, a star-studded movie was planned and Steele's character would be played by Red Buttons. In October 1962, Steele attended the premiere of the Longest Day and would see it many times after.
On the 20th anniversary of D-Day, Steele returned to Sainte-Mère-Eglise to a hero's welcome. He was greeted by the Mayor of Sainte-Mère-Eglise, his wife and French celebrities of the day. He signed autographs in the town square, did interviews and toured the church where he had hung 20 years before. A broken church window had been replaced with a new stained-glass window depicting the Virgin Mary and child with the paratroopers who had bravely landed to free their town. Steele was immortalized by a mannequin paratrooper hanging from the church steeple and even had a tavern named after him, the "Auberge John Steele". John would return to Sainte-Mère-Eglise many times and always as a hero.
John Marvin Steele would fight one last battle, though this time, the enemy would be cancer. Steele would die of throat cancer on May 16, 1969, in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He is buried at the Masonic Cemetery in his hometown of Metropolis, Illinois.
John Marvin Steele's legacy continues after his death, both in France and the United States.
The 65th anniversary of D-Day inspired singer/songwriter Larry Whitler to write the song, "The Angels of Sainte-Mère-Eglise. The lyrics tell the story of John Marvin Steele and that fateful night in Sainte-Mère-Eglise. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO-kB--T12Y
When the first Call of Duty video game came out in 2003, players roaming the village can clearly see Steele's parachute dangling down from the top of the central church. The video game Hell Let Loose released in 2021 honors the battle at Sainte-Mère-Eglise scenario and features Operation John Marvin Steele.
Heroes of Massac Endeavors is an organization dedicated to shining a light on our Massac County historic figures. These are people born in Massac County who have made their mark on the world beyond our County borders. It seems fitting that one of those tributes should honor John Marvin Steele and all of the Massac County soldiers who lost their lives in World War II. Heroes of Massac Endeavors is planning a World War II monument listing all of Massac County's casualties and the monument will feature a statue of John Marvin Steele. The monument will be located on the Massac County Courthouse lawn and fundraising has begun. We hope you will help HOME with this endeavor by attending a fundraiser and/or donating.
We believe John Marvin Steele would be proud ....and the rest is history.
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