Metro Cigar News Spring 1999

Cigars in History

Normandy Remembered
By Bob & Sandy Nesoff

To some people history is what happened last year. To others it is something that should never be forgotten.

Tens of thousands of World War II veterans remember the beaches of Normandy as being awash in troops, equipment and soldiers who would never see the next day. Many of them return to pay respects and find one of the most beautiful destinations in the world.

The beaches where troops landed to begin the eviction of Hitter's Wermacht in June 1944, are today gorgeous stretches of white sand that lure vacationers from around the world. The fields flattened by tanks are now green and bountiful, providing bumper crops for farmers.

Cities such as Cherbourg and Caen and villages such as Sant Mere Eglise offer museums that tell of those days and educate children and adults alike.

Don't be afraid to wander off the track in Cherbourg, or anywhere else for that matter, and find quaint shops selling local wines and the world's best cigars. The French have always known how to enjoy life and have considered wine and cigars to be amongst life's greatest pleasures.

Most of the smaller cities and villages along the Normandy route offer wine and smoke shops with a variety sufficient to please any palate.

The French village of Sant Mere Eglise was the scene of some of the heaviest fighting during World War II's Normandy Invasion. It was made famous in the movies for the incident whereby John Steele, a paratrooper from the 101st Airborne Division (the Screaming Eagles) was caught on a church steeple and hung there through the night. Many artifacts of the invasion are available to the public in a museum across the little town square from the church, including a cigar with the Screaming Eagle insignia on the band. The cigars were for enjoyment by the paratroopers and for possible use in exchange with locals.

John Dillinger's Final Smoke

Final smoke -The cigar and glasses pictured here belong to one of the most infamous of all criminals in the United States, John Dillinger. Dillinger was notorious in days when such names as Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, Machine Gun Kelly and Bonnie and Clyde were on the rampage. He was killed after leaving Chicago's Biograph Theater on a warm night by FBI agents who had been tipped off that he would be there. In his pocket Dillinger was carrying the La Corona now on display in the lobby of the FBI Building in Washington. The glasses also belonged to the criminal and were on his face when he was shot.