(John Bohmer/Stars and Stripes)

Normandy, France, June 5, 1994: Parachutes glide toward Earth as some 550 paratroopers reenacted the 101st Airborne Division D-Day jump. Nineteen of them were veterans of the actual landing 50 years earlier; they fought to liberate the small town of Ste.-Mère-Église. They were the first to jump, together with 22 other WWII combat paratroop veterans. They preceded about 500 active-duty American and French paratroopers. The American paratroopers were from the 101st and 82nd Airborne division, and the 3rd Battalion, 325th Airborne Battalion Combat Team in Vicenza, Italy. All landed in a 300-acre drop zone in Amfreville, about 3 miles from Ste.-Mère-Église.

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