2nd Lt John A. Mariasy, navigator of the C-47 42-100876, took off from Upottery, East Devon, UK to drop 18 paratroopers over DZ-C as part of Operation Albany during the Normandy invasion. Their target time was 0120. To complicate matters, there were heavy clouds at 1500 feet, gone unreported due to the strict radio silence. Some pilots decided to pull up and find their DZs with the Eureka-Rebecca system, others went low to obtain a visual of their DZs, and a rare few stayed the course through the cloud bank. While approaching DZ-C, flak hit the plane, igniting an intense fire aboard. Undaunted, the pilot kept the plane level and steady while the paras jumped. Once they were clear, the plane spiraled down and crashed, killing all aboard. His surname is misspelled as Marisay on the plaque at Picauville town church.