Art-Sainte-Mère-Église Window

This trackable has the goal to circulate more than five years and to be moved by at least 25 cachers. That is a rate of five drops per year for five years, or a drop every 73 days.  As of 10-Sep-20 it had survived for 48 days and had been moved by 2 cachers, for an average release every 24 days. 

No permission is needed to leave the U.S.  While in the U.S., please drop it in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban cache or abandon it at a caching event where there is no security.  Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items.  Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish.

Trackable photos are appreciated, but do not show the tracking number. The images will be re-posted here.

Sainte-Mère-Église is a small community in Normandy, France. The town was founded in 1080-82. It played a part in the Hundred Years' War as well as the several Wars of Religion. More recently, the town's claim to fame is that it played an important part in the World War II Normandy landings.  The village is on route N13, which the Germans would have most likely used in a counterattack on the troops landing on the beaches. It was imperative that the allies capture the town and defend the road.

In the early morning of 6 June 1944 mixed units of the 82nd  and 101st Airborne Divisions parachuted and occupied the town, giving it the claim to be one of the first towns liberated in the invasion. However, the early landings on the town resulted in heavy casualties for the paratroopers. Some buildings in town were on fire that night, and they illuminated the sky, making easy targets of the descending men. Many hanging from trees and utility poles were shot before they could cut loose.

A famous incident involved paratrooper John Steele, whose parachute caught on the spire of the small, town church and could only observe the fighting going on below. He hung there limply for two hours, pretending to be dead, before the Germans took him prisoner. Steele later escaped and rejoined his division. In commemoration, the town still maintains a dummy paratrooper hanging from a church spire (see the secondary image on the trackable home page). Moreover, a large stained-glass window was replaced with one showing the Virgin and Child, flanked by descending paratroopers. The photo on the trackable was taken during our trip to the location of October 2012. The window isn't high art like other works released in this series, but in my opinion, it is still pretty cool.