82nd Airborne paratroopers cut down a 101st flag from an iconic bar on D-Day
Troopers didn't like the flag of their rival airborne division flying over Sainte-Mère-Église, a town the 82nd Airborne liberated on D-Day.
BY JOSHUA SKOVLUND | PUBLISHED JUN 7, 2024 4:29 PM EDT
The moment right before an 82nd Airborne paratrooper cut down the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) flag that was waving above the famous Stop Bar in Sainte-Mère-Église, France during the 80th anniversary of D-Day celebrations. (Screen shots from Fancy_Fancy_Bear Instagram reel.).
Soldiers in the 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne divisions fought together on D-Day 80 years ago, but they carry on a fierce rivalry over hallowed spots the two liberated across Normandy. The latest chapter in that feud came this week when 82nd paratroopers took offense to a 101st flag flying over the Stop Bar in Sainte-Mère-Église, a town that 82nd paratroopers famously liberated on D-Day and have gathered at on D-Day anniversaries in the decades since.
A video emerged this week of an 82nd paratrooper climbing atop the Stop Bar in the town’s central square and cutting the 101st flag down as dozens of current and former paratroopers cheered from the streets below. The Stop Bar, in Sainte-Mère-Église central square, has long been a central meeting spot for 82nd troops and vets.
An 82nd paratrooper who was there told Task & Purpose what happened.
“The past few anniversaries we have in our drunken splendor mentioned that we want to take that filthy thing down because the 101st has never landed in Sainte-Mère-Église and that this is an 82nd town first and foremost,” the paratrooper said. “So 101st has no place to be in Sainte-Mère, so to have their flag above our stop bar is heresy.”
https://taskandpurpose.com/culture/82nd-airborne-101st-flag-normandy
