After retaking Graignes, the German troops massacred 44 civilians and a number of prisoners of war taken in the capture of an American aid station, and set fire to the town.

Shortly after 02:00 hours on D-Day, Tuesday, 6 June 1944, twelve planeloads of American paratroopers from the 3rd Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, were scattered throughout the marshes south of Carentan.

As the Americans went to work preparing defensive positions, the mortar platoon dug in around the cemetery and sent a detachment to occupy the church belfry as an observation post.

From that vantage point, the observer enjoyed an unobstructed view of the network of roads and trails leading to the village from the west and southwest.

Throughout this digging-in process, more American paratroopers continued to arrive in Graignes, and by the end of the following day (D+1), the group had grown in size to 182 (12 officers and 170 enlisted men).

On the morning of 6 June, the village's mayor, M. (Monsieur) Mr. Alphonse Voydie, awoke to find American paratroopers in the field behind his house.

Under Mme (Madame) Mrs. Germaine Boursier's direction, the women of Graignes began cooking around the clock so they could serve two meals each day.

Teams of men, women and even children were hauling wagon loads of valuable salvaged equipment back to the Graignes perimeter.

In the afternoon on Saturday, 10 June, a mechanized patrol approached a defensive position that was manned by some of First Lieutenant Murn's B Company, 1/501st Parachute Infantry Regiment men.

When the troopers searched a dead German's pockets, they discovered some documents that revealed him to be assigned to a reconnaissance battalion of an armored division.

With the observation post in the belfry destroyed, it was no longer possible for the troopers to employ their mortars against the approaching enemy with any degree of effective accuracy.

By the time the Germans made the final thrust into Graignes that night, the defenders had been reduced to a few isolated pockets of resistance spread out around the village.

At the end of the 11 June battle, the 17th SS entered the church and found Captain Abraham ‘Bud’ Sophian's aid station.

Twenty-one men hidden by the Rigault family and taken to Carentan by Joseph Folliot on the night of 15 to 16 June were the last from Graignes to make it back to U.S. lines.

On 6 July 1986, a ceremony was held in the ruins of the 12th-century Roman Catholic church during which eleven villagers were presented with the Award for Distinguished Civilian Service for their role in assisting the men of 3/507th PIR.

DC Vertigo Comics published a graphic novel about the Battle of Graignes called Six Days: The Incredible True Story of D-Day's Lost Chapter.