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All France Angoville-au-Plain Angoville-au-Plain Church

Angoville-au-Plain Church

Bloodstains can still be seen in this medieval church where two medics saved lives on D-Day.

Angoville-au-Plain, France

Added By
Gemfyre
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The church of Angoville-au-Plain   Gemfyre / Atlas Obscura User
The church of Angoville-au-Plain   Gemfyre / Atlas Obscura User
Bloodstained pew   Gemfyre / Atlas Obscura User
Bloodstained pew   Gemfyre / Atlas Obscura User
Commemorative window   Gemfyre / Atlas Obscura User
Commemorative window   Gemfyre / Atlas Obscura User
Commemorative window   Gemfyre / Atlas Obscura User
Commemorative window   Gemfyre / Atlas Obscura User
Hole left in the ceiling from the mortar shell   Gemfyre / Atlas Obscura User
Tile cracked by the mortar shell that did not explode   Gemfyre / Atlas Obscura User
Robert Wright’s gravesite   Gemfyre / Atlas Obscura User
Memorial to Wright and Moore   Gemfyre / Atlas Obscura User
Memorial to paratroopers   Gemfyre / Atlas Obscura User
2023   adamkertesz / Atlas Obscura User
  cfauset / Atlas Obscura User
REW gravestone   adamkertesz / Atlas Obscura User
Interior 2023 (79yrs later not much changed)   adamkertesz / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Early in the morning on D-Day, allied paratroopers dropped all over the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy in advance of the beach landings that would happen after sunrise. The U.S. 101st Airborne Division parachuted in behind Utah Beach with the mission of destroying a German strategic route near the tiny hamlet of Angoville-au-Plain, and the village became the site of an intense battle.

Amid the fighting, a pair of U.S. Army medics from the 501st regiment, Bob Wright and Ken Moore, set up an aid station in the hamlet's 700-year-old church. Here, they treated both Allied and German soldiers. The pews were used as makeshift beds, and the bloodstains from wounded soldiers can be seen even today.

Wright and Moore braved the battlefield looking for wounded to bring back to the church and treat. The brave medics refused to allow weapons inside of the church, and soldiers on both sides heeded their request. At one time, a mortar shell fell through the roof of the church, shattering a floor tile, but it did not hit anyone and it did not explode. Perhaps the place was truly blessed. Two days after D-Day, two German soldiers emerged from hiding in the belfry and promptly surrendered.

Today, the church is little-known to many visitors to Utah Beach, though various D-Day tours include the site and its incredible story. Maintenance of the church and grounds is funded purely on donations and the sales of postcards available inside.

As thanks for the work of the paratroopers on that night, the church installed commemorative stained glass windows: one dedicated to the pair of medics, and one to the 101st Airborne Division parachutists. Robert Wright expressed his wish to be buried at the church, but bureaucratic red tape made this almost impossible. In the end, some of his ashes were smuggled into France to be buried in the churchyard. The unofficial headstone simply reads "R.E.W.", Wright's initials.

Related Tags

War History Churches Stained Glass Windows History World War Ii Sacred Spaces Military

Know Before You Go

The church is about 5km north of the town of Carentan in Normandy. Many D-Day tours stop here.

Community Contributors

Added By

Gemfyre

Edited By

Greg Jones, cfauset, adamkertesz

  • Greg Jones
  • cfauset
  • adamkertesz

Published

April 18, 2017

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Sources
  • https://www.facebook.com/pg/ChurchOfAngovilleAuPlain/about/?ref=page_internal
  • http://www.overlordtour.com/
  • In the Footsteps of the Band of Brothers: A Return to Easy Company's Battlefields with Sgt. Forrest Guth - by Larry Alexander
  • http://www.normandythenandnow.com/the-scars-of-angoville-au-plain/
Angoville-au-Plain Church
5 D913E1
Angoville-au-Plain, France
Angoville-au-Plain
France
49.349357, -1.253305
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