The museum at St Mere Eglise has the large Nazi battle flag from the German commanding general's HQ, and there is an interesting story behind that flag.

An elderly pilot at my airport in NH was, in 1944, a 1 LT assigned to fly the C-47 to drop General "Jumping" Jim Gavin and his staff into St Mere Eglise with the rest of the 82nd Airborne, one hour behind the 101st.

As my friend motored across the North Sea towards Normandy with the rest of his formation, suddenly a member of the General's staff pushed forward into the cockpit with the statement "The general wants to know if you want a souvenir?!" A pretty out of the ordinary question for a pilot trying to fly formation in the dark. Ben finally replied "Ask the General to get me a flag.", thinking of one of the small flags that were attached to military vehicles. The adjutant disappeared for a minute and came back, declaring "The General says that he will get you a flag!"

Ben's formation found St Mere Eglise, the General and his troops went out in the night, and the C-47 returned to base in England.

A few weeks later, a package arrived addressed to Ben. Ben had forgotten all about flags. The package contained the 15x25' battle flag from the HQ of the German commanding General at St Mere Eglise.

40 years later, Ben visited St Mere Eglise. This is a place where, if you were there the night of 6 June 1944 you are an honored guest and welcome to the keys to the city. When Ben mentioned that he had the flag, the museum staff got very excited and Ben agreed to donate it. Shipped it when he got home to NH.

Just another small story from the greatest generation.

Wes
N78PS