HOLD OFF ON JUMP SWITCH
Gwynn hesitates. Something is not right. Then Weatherhead yells out.
"Captain, those are ships beneath us. We are over the ocean!"
Gwynn sees white capped waves and boats steaming across the Channel. The paratroopers would have drowned!
The Captain turns the plane west, searching for their drop zone and trying not to think about his low fuel.
The clouds clear and a full moon casts light on the countryside as they scan for St. Mere-Eglise.
"That must be it!" the co-pilot yells, pointing to anti-aircraft flashes illuminating a small town.
Fuel dwindling rapidly, the C-47 approaches from almost 2,000 feet above St. Mere-Eglise. As they get closer, Gwynn and Weatherhead see C-47's above the town and hundreds of parachutes drifting beneath them.
A C-47 blows to pieces and plummets to the ground. The sky is alive with long plumes of German tracer fire.
The men try not think about what they learned in training -- for every one tracer round they see there are three "dark" bullets tearing through the sky.
Gwynn remains steady through the agonizing seconds. When he judges they are in place, the Captain flips the jump switch.
The green light flashes and Turnbull jumps, followed by a long line of paratroopers.
As soon as the last man clears, Gwynn turns the plane towards Utah Beach and the English Channel.
Their C-47 sputters over Normandy, out of fuel and dropping altitude. Gwynn clears the French coast before his plane plunks into the sea a few minutes later.
He and his crew desperately kick free and swim towards a British destroyer.
Thankfully they are rescued. Gwynn and his men spend June 6 watching the ship's guns pound German defenses around Cherborg.
