by Staff Sgt. Austin M. May
100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
6/10/2010 - NORMANDY, France (AFNS) -- The sky above Normandy billowed to life June 5 as hundreds of parachutes slowly descended on a field just outside St. Mere Eglise, a town near Utah Beach.
Beneath the chutes was a mix of American, English, French and German paratroopers, all landing in the field known as the "Iron Mike" drop zone, with the same mission: to commemorate the 66th anniversary of Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings of World War II.
Among the jumpers were members of Royal Air Force Mildenhall's 321st Special Tactics Squadron, which has participated in the D-Day commemoration almost every year since the mid 1990s. Five 321st STS Airmen jumped from a static line, where their parachute is deployed automatically upon exiting the aircraft, while another 14 performed a high-altitude, low-opening jump.
Capt. Steven Cooper was one of the Airmen who made the static-line jump, but with a twist -- he and the other four were delivered to the drop zone by a German aircraft.
