The 82nd. Airborne (The All American) consisted of three parachute regiments and one regiment of airborne infantry landing in gliders.
The original plan to land in the centre of the Cotentin peninsula was changed , after intelligence reports of the German 91st. Air landing Division being moved to the area!!
It was decided that the 82nd. would now drop west of the 101st. Airborne, on either side of the river Meredet. and secure the town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise.
At 1:30 a.m. the pathfinders of the 82nd landed in Normandy, the weather conditions were so bad that the majority were nowhere near their designated area!! Only the pathfinders assigned east of the river Meredet adjacent to Sainte-Mere-Eglise were dropped on the correct location.

At 2 a.m. the main body of the 82nd. started to drop. Unfortunately it turned into a complete shambles! Fewer than 50% of the men of the 508th. Parachute Infantry landed within 2 miles of their drop zones, consequently it was 4 days before they regrouped.
The 507th. Parachute Infantry faired even worse. over half fell a mile to the east of their drop zone and ended up in the swamps created by the Germans by the banks of the river Meredet! Laden with all their equipment many men drowned before they had a chance to fight. Believe it or not some men were dropped up to 25 miles from the target area!
The dispositions were so great, that up to 66% of the 82nd were out of the fight the moment they landed.

The men of the 505th. Parachute Infantry landed virtually on target, or within 2 miles of it.
Lieutenant-Colonel Ben Vandervoort of the 2/505th. broke his foot on landing, this did not slow him down however, he delegated two men from the 101st. to pull him on a handcart to his objective. Sainte-Mere-Eglise….
At the town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise all hell was let loose when 30 troops of the 3/505th. actually dropped into the town!! The German defenders didn't give them a chance, and cut them down before they had the chance to land. One soldier, Private John Steele had a miraculous escape when his parachute snagged on the church steeple, he was left dangling  for two hours before the Germans realised he wasn't dead and eventually took him as a prisoner of war.
To this day, this man has never been forgotten by the people of Ste-Mere-Eglise.
The Divisional Commander, Major-General Matthew Ridgway, who actually parachuted in with his troops, soon realised that the most he could achieve would be the capture of Ste-Mere-Eglise,his most important objective. With 108 men under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Krause, this was achieved by 5 a.m.
The reinforcements of anti-tank guns and the divisional artillery started to arrive by Waco Gliders soon after 4 a.m. and continued to arrive throughout D-Day, all this was achieved whilst still under heavy German fire…..
An important  defensive position, on the east bank of the river Meredet was held, by troops of the 82nd. under the command of the assistant commander, Brigadier-General James Gavin.