RHH's photos with the keyword: world war 2

This is the steeple of the church in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, a town near the Utah and Omaha beaches used by the Americans on D-Day, June 6, 1944. The effigy is of a man named John Steele of the 505th Parachute Regiment whose parachute snagged on the steeple. He hung there for several hours pretending to be dead until rescued and made a prisoner by the German soldiers in the town. According to his own account they did not shoot him, as they did many other paratroopers who were descending on the town, because they thought he was protected by the Mary to whom the church is dedicated.

This is the church in the Normandy town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise, near the Utah and Omaha beaches, landing sites for the Americans on June 6, 1944, D-Day. The church is famous for the story of the parachutist, John Steele, a member of the American airborne troops whose parachute snagged on the church steeple in the early hours of the morning and who hung there for several hours pretending to be dead until rescued by the Germans and made a prisoner. Many of the other paratroopers were shot and killed as they came down on the town, but according to John Steele's account the German troops did not shoot at him because of the church.

On June 6, 1944, this was Sword Beach, one of the British landing sites. Visiting the beach today it is difficult to imagine that it was the site of a pitched battle, the beach filled with soldiers and all the equipment of war and the sea filled with ships of every kind.

Near the town of Miallo, this memorial commemorates the only casualty suffered on the eastern Australian mainland during World War II. The plaque reads: " JAPANESE AIR RAID ON DOUGLAS SHIRE - 1942. At 3.30 a.m. on 31/7/42, a Japanese aircraft dropped eight bombs in this Shire, one landing fifty metres directly behind this point. Carmel Zullo aged 2 1/2 years was asleep in the home of her parents when the bomb exploded nearby. Shrapnel pierced the iron walls of the house, one fragment grazing Carmel's skull. She was the only civilian casualty inflicted by the enemy on the Eastern Australian mainland throughout World War 2. This plaque was unveiled by Mrs. Carmel Emmi (nee Zullo) on 31/7/92 at a public ceremony to commemorate the attack, fifty years later."